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Page 23
"There's a nice little old lady keeps the place, and she gives you awful
big ice creams for five cents. You have 'em on a marble table in her
little parlor. There's a green carpet on the floor, and the room is
awful cool. Oh, come on! I wish you would."
The invitation was not elegantly expressed, but it certainly was
CORDIAL.
"I guess we'll have to go," said Rose, "would you, Polly?"
"I'd like to," was the reply.
"Then come!" said Lester, "we'll be there and back here before anyone
would guess you'd been even outside that door."
They waited for no more urging, and together the three little friends
ran across the street, through a side street, and down a broad avenue.
"It's just a little farther down this way," said Lester.
"Why it's ever so far from the studio, Lester Jenks, and you SAID we'd
just skip to it," said Rose, breathlessly.
"Well, aren't we skipping?" he said with a laugh, "we run a few steps,
and then you and Polly skip along a little way, and then you run again."
Rose was just wondering if they ought to turn back without the little
treat, when Lester caught her hand, saying:
"Here we are," and he boldly opened the door.
A tiny bell tinkled as the door closed behind them, and a little, white
haired old lady came out to greet them.
"We want some ice cream, these ladies and me," said Lester, trying to
look as tall as possible, and hoping that she did not notice that he was
wearing knee breeches. He thought that no one would dream that he was a
small boy if only they could not see those knee breeches that he so
heartily despised.
The old lady served the cream in dainty glasses, and heaped it high in a
tiny pile that really amounted to little, but looked great--for five
cents.
"How cool and dark it is in here," said Rose.
"It is a lovely place to eat ice cream in," said Polly.
The strawberry ice cream was very, very pink, and they thought it
delicious.
"Do you think we've been gone long, YET, Lester?" questioned Rose.
"Of course not," said Lester, but Rose wished that he would eat his
cream a little faster.
When the tiny glasses were quite empty Lester bought a package of candy
for his friends, and having paid for the treat, opened the door for them
to pass out onto the sidewalk.
"Why it looks different," said Polly, "is it cloudy, since we went in
there?" But the sky showed no clouds. Then where had the bright sunlight
gone?
"Oh, I b'lieve it's late!" cried Rose, "do you s'pose it is? It was long
after lunch when we started for the studio, oh, ever so long after. We
staid there looking at the pictures for hours, I guess, and then we came
with you, Lester."
"It CAN'T be late," the boy replied, although he truly believed that it
was.
"We could go back a shorter way than the one we came. Shall we?" he
asked.
"Oh, yes, yes!" cried Rose, "we must get there before Aunt Lois is ready
to go. If Mr. Kirtland is still painting we can go in softly by the
little side door, and wait until it is time to go."
Lester led the way, and the three children ran down one street, and up
another, until at last they paused for breath.
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