"What does she look like and how long is she going to stay?" asked Mary
Jane and then, before Mrs. Merrill could answer she added, "Will she like
to play with me?"

"Don't ask me!" laughed Mrs. Merrill, "I have never seen her either. She's
your Daddah's auntie, you know, ask him."

"That's funny," said Mary Jane, "How can she be just my Daddah's auntie?
Isn't she yours and mine too?"

"To be sure she is," replied Mrs. Merrill; "she's our auntie now but she
was his auntie first and we haven't had a chance to see her since she
belonged to you and me. When father comes home this noon you must get him
to tell you all about the good times he and his brother used to have at her
house when they were little boys. Then you will know that you will surely
love her very much and that you'll want her to stay at our house a good
long time."

When Mr. Merrill came home for lunch he gladly told her about many of the
good times this same auntie had given him when he was about as old as Mary
Jane.

So no wonder Mary Jane was interested in the coming of their guest. She
helped clean the guest room and all by herself fixed the vase of violets
for the dresser. And then she put on her second best dress and drove with
her father to the station to meet the unknown auntie.

Mr. Merrill locked the car and then he and Mary Jane went through the
station and clear out to the tracks so they might see Aunt Effie the minute
she got off the train. Pretty soon the great engine with its long trail