"Four-wheeler or hansom, ma'am?" said a porter to Mrs. Ashe.
"Which, Katy?"
"Oh, let us have a hansom! I never saw one, and they look so nice
in 'Punch.'"
So a hansom cab was called, the two ladies got in, Amy cuddled down
between them, the folding-doors were shut over their knees like a
lap-robe, and away they drove up the solidly paved streets to the hotel
where they were to pass the night. It was too late to see or do anything
but enjoy the sense of being on firm land once more.
"How lovely it will be to sleep in a bed that doesn't tip or roll from
side to side!" said Mrs. Ashe.
"Yes, and that is wide enough and long enough and soft enough to be
comfortable!" replied Katy. "I feel as if I could sleep for a fortnight
to make up for the bad nights at sea."
Everything seemed delightful to her,--the space for undressing, the
great tub of fresh water which stood beside the English-looking
washstand with its ample basin and ewer, the chintz-curtained bed, the
coolness, the silence,--and she closed her eyes with the pleasant
thought in her mind, "It is really England and we are really here!"
CHAPTER V.
STORYBOOK ENGLAND.
"Oh, is it raining?" was Katy's first question next morning, when the
maid came to call her. The pretty room, with its gayly flowered chintz,
and china, and its brass bedstead, did not look half so bright as when
lit with gas the night before; and a dim gray light struggled in at the
window, which in America would certainly have meant bad weather coming
or already come.
Pages:
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75