Anna Mary delayed long enough to pay this lofty personage, who touched his tall hat in acknowledgment of his fee; Beth watched it all with wide eyes as she waited on the pavement. “Now,” said Anna Mary, and Beth followed her up the steps. A smiling young woman in a cap opened the door. “Oh, Anna Mary!” she said, but her eyes were on Beth in her home-made blue garments. “Where’s Mrs. Hodgman?” asked Anna Mary resenting this maid’s unspoken criticism of Beth’s appearance. Anna Mary had a personal pride in everything and everybody belonging to the family which she served. “Mrs. Hodgman is in her room down-stairs,” said the maid. Just then a serious looking woman came up from below, and Anna Mary went toward her. “Mrs. Hodgman, this is Mr. Cortlandt’s niece, Miss Elizabeth Bristead, but she is called Miss Beth. I’ve this moment come back from fetchin’ her. Miss Beth, this is Mrs. Hodgman who looks after your aunt’s housekeepin’ for her,” said Anna Mary. Puzzled Beth held out her hand. “I’m very well, thank you,” she said, before Mrs. Hodgman had a chance to ask after her health. The housekeeper smiled. “I’m glad to hear it, my dear. You certainly look so,” she said. “Mrs. Cortlandt and Mr. Cortlandt are out, Anna Mary. Mrs. Cortlandt thought that you would come, but she wasn’t sure, because you forgot to telegraph. She left word that she should not be in before one, if she came as early as that, and if the little niece came that we were to make her comfortable. She said that you could stay with Miss Beth until she came home, for fear she might be lonely. She said you need do nothing in her room till she came, but stay up-stairs to make the child happy.” “I suppose her room is ready?” asked Anna Mary. “I think she had better not meet her cousins to-night. Miss Beth, come and have supper, and then we’ll go up-stairs.” “I don’t think I’m hungry,” said Beth cautiously, remembering how her appetite on the train had surprised her. But Anna Mary did not wait for her to make sure; she led the way down the hall. “She’d better have supper in the breakfast room, don’t you think, Mrs. Hodgman? It’s more cozy,” she suggested. Anna Mary pulled aside a heavy portière and touched a button. The light that leaped into the flower-shaped bulbs around the room revealed rose-colored silken covered walls, high wainscoting of a wood as fine and glossy as the silk above it, beautiful gold and rose window draperies, and furniture so fine that even Beth felt its perfection. She caught her breath. “Is it a room, a room to use?” she cried. “It’s the breakfast room, Miss Beth,” said the housekeeper. “It is said to be one of the most beautiful rooms of its kind in New York. I’ll see that a supper is sent up, Anna Mary. Riggs is out to-night, so Frieda will serve it.”