“Thanks!” drawled Jack, but Lucile looked anxious.
“Perhaps we would better catch up with the rest of them,” she suggested. “The front ranks have quite a start on us, and we don’t want to keep them waiting.”
“Oh, all right,” agreed Jack cheerfully. “Give me your hand and we’ll do a hundred-yard dash in record time.” 64
Lucile took the proffered hand and away they went like two happy children, reaching the rest of the party a moment later, out of breath but triumphant.
“Didn’t I tell you we’d break the record?” laughed Jack, forgetting for the moment to release her hand. “You’re some little runner, too,” he added, admiringly.
“Speak for yourself,” she threw back gaily. “That was a good run, though. I guess we won’t miss the train now.”
“Not an unmixed blessing,” Jack grumbled, at which they all laughed with such infectious mirth that more than one passer-by turned to smile after them.
They arrived at the station in plenty of time, after all, for it was fully fifteen minutes before a distant toot announced the coming of the train that was to carry them to New York. It had been Mr. Payton’s intention in the first place to take passage on one of the smaller steamers, but the girls had been so evidently disappointed, although, to do them credit, they had tried their very best not to let him see it, that he had changed his plans at the last minute and had decided to take passage from New York on the great steamer “Mauretania.”
In talking things over, the girls’ parents and one or two of their relatives had decided to take the trip with them as far as New York, and from there give them a glorious send-off.
The girls’ desire and curiosity to see the great metropolis had been heightened by their guardian’s vivid recitals of her experiences, and they were on edge with expectancy.