She lived at a good private hotel located in an exclusive residence district.
It was true that Elizabeth--or "Beth," as she was more familiarly called--was not a permanent guest at this hotel.

When in New York she was accustomed to live with one or the other of her cousins, who welcomed her eagerly.

But just now her mother had journeyed from the old Ohio home to visit Beth, and the girl had no intention of inflicting her parent upon the other girls.

Therefore she had taken rooms at the hotel temporarily, and the plan suited her mother excellently.

For one thing, Mrs.De Graf could go home and tell her Cloverton gossips that she had stopped at the most "fashionable" hotel in New York; a second point was that she loved to feast with epicurean avidity upon the products of a clever _chef_, being one of those women who live to eat, rather than eat to live.
Mrs.De Graf was John Merrick's only surviving sister, but she differed as widely from the simple, kindly man in disposition as did her ingenious daughter from her in mental attainments.