The train reached New York on time and the transit across the city was made without mishap. Eleanor’s aunt was at the boat to see her off, and she had brought a carriage full of flowers, fruit, and candy for Eleanor and her friends, so that the state-rooms looked very festive indeed, and Mary declared that she felt as if she was starting on a wedding trip to Europe at the very least.
Miss Hale, who had warned “The Merry Hearts” that she was always seasick, went to her state-room as soon as the boat swung off, and the girls, most of whom hadn’t had experience enough to know whether they should be seasick or not, arranged their belongings as comfortably as possible for the voyage, and then, all but Roberta, who had already begun to feel very miserable indeed, made ready to answer the call of the supper-gong. The boat was not at all crowded, for the season of southern travel was nearly over; but that made the girls all the more anxious to get a look at their fellow-voyagers, and particularly to see if Dr. Eaton was among them.
“For,” said Mary Brooks sententiously, “it makes all the difference in the world. Either this is going to be a novel with a hero, or a novel without a hero, and it takes a regular genius to write that kind, so I guess we’d better not attempt it.”
But Mary was just marshalling her little flock in the passage when Dr. Eaton opened the door of a state-room across the way, and came toward them with a smile.
“What’s this?” he demanded, nodding to Betty and the B’s. “Is this an expedition of ‘The Merry Hearts’ that I haven’t been told of?”
Betty explained that it wasn’t exactly that—that it only happened that most of the travelers were also members of the club; and then she introduced Dr. Eaton to every one that he did not know.
“And now you must let me escort you down to supper,” said Dr. Eaton, falling in beside Betty. “You say you’re going to Nassau to meet your father and mother?”
“Yes,” explained Betty, “but we have a chaperon besides. It’s Miss Hale. You know her, don’t you?”
Dr. Eaton glanced hastily over the little company. “Do I?” he said. “Which one is she?”