"I haven't had one taken in an awfully long time, Jack."
"Never mind, you will let me have one of them anyhow, won't you?"
"I—I guess—maybe so. I'll give it to you for a Christmas present. Only don't tell the others."
"I won't, Ruth. And you can keep about my picture to yourself, too," added the captain. And thereupon the decidedly interesting conversation between the pair had to come to an end as one of the trains came puffing in—that which was to carry Ruth and some of the other girls, as well as many of the cadets, away.
CHAPTER VIII
CHRISTMAS AT HOME
"Well, here we are at last. I wonder if anybody will be at the station to meet us," said Martha Rover.
"Oh, I'm sure somebody will come down," answered Mary.
The six Rovers had had a long and uneventful train ride from Haven Point to the Grand Central Terminal, Forty-second Street, New York City. They had had to change cars at the Junction, where some months before they had had such fun with Mr. Asa Lemm, the discharged teacher of the Hall, as related in detail in the volume previous to this. The train had been crowded with passengers, but the Rovers had managed to get seats together, much to their satisfaction; and they had also managed to get pretty fair accommodations when it came time to go into the diner.