Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace
Author:Maud Hart Lovelace [Lovelace, Maud Hart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-06-199828-7
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-09-18T04:00:00+00:00
Betsy looked around often to get a view of the lobby which stretched impressively to the large plate glass windows, veiled now by snowflakes.
The statue on the landing had no head. It was the statue of a woman, or an angel …
“It’s called the Winged Victory. It’s Greek,” said Mrs. Poppy.
“Greek!” said Betsy. “It’s probably a goddess then.” She walked around it, staring. Her reading of the day illumined the triumphant figure.
At the top of the stairs stretched the hotel dining room. It was two stories high and overlooked the river. Here Deep Valley gave its fashionable parties, its dances and cotillions, with an orchestra playing behind potted palms and those guests who did not care to dance amusing themselves with whist and euchre in the luxurious parlors. Betsy had read all about it many times in the society columns of Winona’s father’s paper.
She looked about her eagerly as Mrs. Poppy paused to speak to a maid in a white cap.
“Will you send in some hot chocolate?” she asked. “Plenty of whipped cream, please, and a plate of cakes.”
“Yes, Mrs. Poppy,” answered the maid, smiling at Betsy.
Mrs. Poppy tripped down a corridor, carpeted so deeply that their footfalls could not be heard. At the end she paused, took a key out of her bag and opened a door. They were greeted by a burst of warmth and of Mrs. Poppy’s perfume.
“This is my little house,” she said, leading the way inside.
It was indeed like a little house, a doll’s house. (But Mrs. Poppy was a pretty big doll.) There were parlor, den, bedroom and bath; no dining room or kitchen.
“We eat in the big dining room, or else have our meals sent in here,” Mrs. Poppy explained.
They went first into the bedroom which was blue, blue, blue. Blue flowers climbed up the walls and blue flowers bloomed on the carpet. Blue draped the windows, the bed, the bureau and the chiffonier. The bathroom where Mrs. Poppy asked Betsy to take off her shoes and stockings was blue too.
Mrs. Poppy brought out a pair of bedroom slippers lined with white fur. Into these Betsy thrust her feet, while Mrs. Poppy took off her own wraps. Her dress was very modish with braid appliquéd on the blousy waist, the baggy sleeves, the trailing skirts. There was a fresh white bow at her neck.
Although she was so large, Mrs. Poppy looked young after her hat was removed. Her blonde hair was dressed in a high pompadour with a figure eight down her neck. Her skin was freshly pink, and her dark-lashed blue eyes brimmed with smiles.
Beside the bed was a small rocking chair with a doll in it.
“Was this your doll when you were a little girl?” Betsy asked.
“No,” said Mrs. Poppy. “That doll belonged to our little girl, our Minnie. She died, and that’s why I like to borrow other people’s little girls sometimes.”
“Oh,” said Betsy. She was sorry. She wished she knew how to say she was sorry; Julia would have known.
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