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Dorothy on a House Boat
Dorothy on a House Boat
CHAPTER I
A BIG GIFT FOR A SMALL MAID
“Well, of all things!” exclaimed Mrs. Betty Calvert, shaking her white head and tossing her hands in a gesture of amazement. Then, as the letter she had held fell to the floor, her dark eyes twinkled with amusement and she smilingly demanded: “Dorothy, do you want an elephant?”
The girl had been reading her own letters, just come in the morning’s mail, but she paused to stare at her great-aunt and to ask in turn:
“Aunt Betty, what do you mean?”
“Because if you do here’s the chance of your life to get one!” answered the old lady, motioning toward the fallen letter.
Dolly understood that she was to pick it up and read it, and, having done so, remarked:
“Auntie dear, this doesn’t say anything about an elephant, as I can see.”
“Amounts to the same thing. The idea of a house-boat as a gift to a girl like you! My cousin Seth Winters must be getting into his dotage! Of course, girlie, I don’t mean that fully, but isn’t it a queer notion? What in the world can you, could you, do with a house-boat?”
“Live in it, sail in it, have the jolliest time in it! Why not, Auntie, darling?”
Dorothy’s face was shining with eagerness and she ran to clasp Mrs. Calvert with coaxing arms. “Why not, indeed, Aunt Betty? You’ve been shut up in this hot city all summer long; you haven’t had a bit of an outing, anywhere; it would do you lots of good to go sailing about on the river or bay; and – and – do say ‘yes,’ please, to dear Mr. Seth’s offer! Oh! do!”
The old lady kissed the uplifted face, merrily exclaiming: