She is Miss Eva Langton, and lives
at the White House. You follow the street till you get out of the town
where there is a pond at this end of the common, and just a little the
other side of the pond there are big trees, and behind the trees a
white gate. That's the gate of the White House, only you can't see it
because the trees are in the way. Are you going to call on her?"
I explained that I did not know her, and though I wished I did because
she was so pretty, it would not perhaps be quite right to go to her
house to see her.
"I'm sorry you're not going to call, she's such a nice young lady.
Everybody likes her." And then, after a few moments, she looked up with
a smile, and said, "Is there anything else I can tell you about the
people of the town? There's a man going by in the rain with a lot of
planks on his head - would you like to know who he is and all about
him?"
"Oh yes, certainly," I replied. "But of course I don't care so much
about him as I do about that little brown girl from the farm, and the
nice Miss Langton from the White House. But it's really very pleasant
to listen to you whatever you talk about.
