CHAPTER VII.
HOMEWARD BOUND
"O Warwick Hall, dear Warwick Hall,
Thy happy hours we'll oft recall!
No time or change can break thy tie,
Though for awhile we say good-bye—
Good-bye! Good-bye!"
Amid a flutter of handkerchiefs and a babel of parting cries, each 'bus-load of girls departed from the Hall to the station singing the farewell song of the school.
A dozen times on the way home Allison, humming it unconsciously, found the rest of the party joining in. It was an uneventful journey, but a merry one to the five girls, travelling for the first time without a chaperon. For the first few hours they had the observation car to themselves. Even the porter mysteriously disappeared.
"He's curled up asleep somewhere, rest his soul," said Gay, when she had rung for him several times.
"All the better," answered Kitty. "We don't really need the table, and it's nice to have him out of the way. This is as good as travelling in a private car. We can 'stand on our head in our little trundle-bed, and nobody nigh to hinder.' Oh, girls, I'm so crazy glad that we're on our way home that I'm positively obliged to do something to let off steam. I've exhausted my vocabulary trying to express my delight, so there's nothing left but to howl."
"Or to wriggle," suggested Gay. "Why not try facial expression? How is this for transcendent joy?"
The grotesque smile which she turned upon them was so ridiculous that they screamed with laughter.
"Oh, Gay, do stop!" begged Betty. "You're as bad as a comic valentine."