Muffins barked wildly at the lovely white cat that came trotting up to Elizabeth Ann. This was Antonio—better known as Tony—and he was plainly glad to see his little mistress again. Elizabeth Ann gathered him in her arms as they went into the house.

It wasn’t a large house and the four guests added to the Mason family, completely filled the little dining room. There was dear Aunt Jennie—who had the sweetest smile of any of her aunties, Elizabeth Ann often thought; and pretty Emmy, the older daughter, and Jerry and Rodney, the two big cousins; and Ted and Lansing, the two younger boy cousins. And Doris, of course. But Doris was so strangely quiet that Elizabeth Ann hardly knew her. Usually Doris made as much noise as her brothers did. “Ted about Cally,” commanded Ted, as soon as they were all seated at the table. “Did you like it? Wasn’t it hot down there? Mother told me you learned how to ride a horse, Elizabeth Ann.”

Doris didn’t say a word. She sat beside her mother and drank her milk when she saw Uncle Doctor looking at her, but she didn’t touch her plate and Elizabeth Ann was surprised to see that she didn’t eat her dessert either when Emmy brought that in. Elizabeth Ann was never allowed to have dessert if she didn’t eat her dinner; but here was Doris, who could have apparently what she wanted, refusing to eat a chocolate Éclair.

“I suppose it’s because she has been sick,” thought Elizabeth Ann.

After dinner, they took a little walk on the beach, but Uncle Doctor said Elizabeth Ann must go to bed early because she had had a long journey. Doris had not come with them for the walk and she was already in bed, Aunt Jennie said, when the others returned from the beach.

“Perhaps she’ll be up early in the morning,” said Elizabeth Ann sleepily to Cousin Nellie.

But Doris didn’t get up early the next morning. Elizabeth Ann, who wanted to play in the sand before breakfast, was disappointed when she ran downstairs to find only Ted and Lansing on the front porch.

“Where’s Doris?” she asked eagerly.

“In bed,” Ted replied. “She stays in bed till after breakfast, since she’s been sick. Your Uncle Doctor’s gone down to the beach to throw sticks in the water for Muffins—want to go see him?”

Elizabeth Ann went with the boys and they found Uncle Doctor and Muffins having a grand time. Jerry and Rodney had already gone into the city, to their offices, and as soon as Elizabeth Ann and Ted and Lansing brought Uncle Doctor back to the house, they had breakfast.

“Now I’ll go up and see Doris,” announced Uncle Doctor, when breakfast was over. “You run out and play, Elizabeth Ann; I want to start for home before lunch time, if possible.” Ted and Lansing and Elizabeth Ann went out and sat on the steps.

“Are you going to the country with Doris?” asked Ted.

“Are you going to Chester with Doctor Lewis?” Lansing asked.

“I don’t know,” said Elizabeth Ann frankly. “I don’t know where I’m going. What is the matter with Doris?”

“She was sick almost two weeks,” Ted declared. “She was sick in bed. And now the doctor says she ought to go to the country, because when people live at the seashore all the year round, the country is a change. I never get any change,” sighed Ted.

Elizabeth Ann looked at him critically.

“You look all right,” she observed. “I don’t believe you need any.”

And Elizabeth Ann was right. If ever a boy looked sturdy and well and happy, that boy was Ted Mason. He couldn’t even feel sorry for himself because there was really nothing to feel sorry about.

Elizabeth Ann heard a purring sound behind her back and there was Tony, her white cat. He climbed into her lap and she stroked him gently.

“If I go to the country, could I take Tony, do you suppose?” she asked. “I couldn’t take him to Aunt Ida’s school, but perhaps in the country it will be different.”

Lansing didn’t know. Neither did Ted.

“You’ll have to ask Mother,” they both said.

Cousin Nellie and Aunt Jennie came out on the porch just then and Aunt Jennie sat down beside Elizabeth Ann, while Cousin Nellie took the rocking chair.

“How would you like to go and visit Doris’s great uncle, dear?” asked Aunt Jennie.

Elizabeth Ann blinked. She often got herself tangled up thinking about her relatives, and here she was being asked to think about Doris’s relatives.

“Has Doris a great uncle?” she asked cautiously.

“Yes,” nodded Aunt Jennie, “she has. He’s my uncle, just as Doctor Lewis is your mother’s uncle. His name is Hiram—Uncle Hiram, and he lives on a lovely farm.” “Could Tony live on the farm, too?” inquired Elizabeth Ann.

“I think he could,” Aunt Jennie answered. “I don’t see any reason why Tony couldn’t go with you.”

And then Uncle Doctor came out and joined them and began to talk. In a very few minutes everything was quite clear to Elizabeth Ann. That was always the way when Uncle Doctor talked to her—he could explain things so plainly, and he didn’t mind dozens of questions, and he always seemed to take it for granted that Elizabeth Ann would be willing and anxious to do as he wanted her to do.

“Doris must have a quiet, unexciting winter, in the open air,” said Uncle Doctor, sitting on the porch railing. “From what you tell me, Jennie, I think Bonnie Susie will be exactly the place for her.”

Elizabeth Ann listened, but did not say anything. “Bonnie Susie” didn’t sound like a farm, did it?

“It won’t hurt Elizabeth Ann, either,” said Uncle Doctor, smiling at that small girl, “to have a winter in the country. Tramping through the snow drifts will give her roses in her cheeks. How are we going to send them?”

“Uncle Hiram has promised to come after them,” explained Aunt Jennie. “He’s delighted at the idea of having company this winter. And I’m so glad you are willing to have Elizabeth Ann go with Doris—she would be so lonely in a strange house, and at a strange school, without her best cousin, as she calls Elizabeth Ann.”

So that was settled. Uncle Doctor and Cousin Nellie and Muffins and Lex drove away an hour later, leaving Elizabeth Ann feeling a little forlorn, for all she had an aunt and half a dozen cousins left. And a cat, too, as Doris, who had dressed and came down to sit in the sunshine, reminded her.

“I think it will be heaps of fun to go to the country,” said Doris with something of her old enthusiasm. “Wait till you see my Uncle Hiram’s house, Elizabeth Ann. You never saw a house like it anywhere.”

“Why didn’t I?” Elizabeth Ann demanded. “I’ve seen lots of houses—I saw queer houses down South.” “I don’t believe you ever saw a house like my Uncle Hiram’s house,” persisted Doris. “I never saw it, either, but Mother told me about it.”

Elizabeth Ann was puzzled.

“Is it a queer house, Doris?” she asked wonderingly.

“No-o, I don’t know that it is queer,” said Doris. “It’s—it’s different—that’s all. You see, it’s built exactly like a boat!”

“But I thought your uncle lived on a farm,” Elizabeth Ann reminded her.

“He does, but he lives in a boat,” replied Doris.