but she was smiling and her eyes had a sparkle in them. Her teeth were chattering too.
I went into my bathroom, quickly threw off the riding clothes Aunt Josie had lent me, and dried off with a big fluffy towel. Then I put on a thick yellow robe. Coming out, I handed another towel to Perri. âYou take a bath first,â I instructed. âIâll find you something to wear.â
She took the towel and giggled a little.
I began going through my drawers and closet, and then with an exasperated sigh, I said, âI donât think any of these clothes are going to fit you. Youâre not skinny like me.â I held up the bright pink day dress for her to inspect.
âItâs a lovely frock, but youâre right. It wouldnât fit me.â
I started down the hall to the bedrooms of Uncle Robert and Aunt Josieâs two daughters, both grown now.
Perri followed me. âWhat in the world are you doing?â
âWeâve got to find you something to wear. Otherwise youâll come down with the croup or worse.â
âWell, it isnât proper to search through the house. You donât just look into other peopleâs private affairs.â
Hands on my hips, I retorted, âIf my aunt were here, Iâd ask her permission. But she isnât, and youâre freezing to death. Now go draw a bath, and Iâll find you everything you need.â
Obediently Perri disappeared into my bathroom.
I found a dress in my cousin Beccaâs closet, which was twice the size of the bedroom I shared with my sisters in Chicago and filled with the most gorgeous dresses and evening gowns. Rummaging through Beccaâs drawers, I found a clean pair of pantiesâI wasnât about to lend Perri any of my moth-eaten onesâand a brassiere that just might fit her. It was certainly too big for my pitiful excuse for a chest.
I had laid the clothing out on Beccaâs bed and was searching the closet for a pair of pumps when I came across three photo albums. I opened the first oneâs brittle pages and found a journal of sorts with a few photos adjoined with little gold corners. I stared at a picture of this house long ago, a horse and carriage in front and a womanâmy grandmother, I recognized from the one photograph we had of herâholding on to a little boyâs hand. My father! He was dressed in a lacy white outfit that looked more appropriate for a girl than for him, and he was smiling his famous smile, which showed an array of teeth. I sank to the floor, enthralled.
I wondered about my father. Why had he left such opulence? How could my aunt and uncle have so much and my father have so little? It didnât make sense to me.
I donât know how long Iâd been sitting there, wrapped in the robe and nothing else, slowly turning the yellowed pages and squinting to read the faded black-ink notations written underneath the old photos, when I heard a noise coming from down the hall. I paid no attention for a while until, the noise became louder and I recognized Perriâs voice.
âDobbs! Mary Dobbs Dillard. Yoo-hoo! Where in the world are you? Iâm standing here buck naked under this towel. Hurry up, for goodnessâ sake.â
I left the album, determined that Iâd come back to it later, retrieved Beccaâs clothes, and presented them to Perri in my room. She hurriedly pulled on the panties and braâgiggling, âWhere in the world did you get these old things?ââand the dress, surveyed herself in the full-length mirror, and said, âI look like a complete disaster. Heavens! What will Mamma say, and with everything else on her mind?â
âI doubt sheâll notice.â
âYou donât know Mamma. This is precisely the kind of thing she would notice.â
I quickly bathed and then put on the blue dress Iâd worn that first day and ran my fingers through my hopelessly tangled hair.
Perri had little bobby pins
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