When the bustle of the debarkation and the nuisance of the custom house was over, and Mr. Force was handing the ladies of his party into a capacious carriage to convey them to the Adelphi Hotel, he inquired:
“Well, shall we take rooms there for the night, or only supper, and leave by the evening express for Cumberland?”
“Oh, let us go on, if you please! What time does our train leave?” inquired Mrs. Force.
“Ten-fifty.”
“Then we can reach Nethermost, the nearest station to Enderby Castle, by morning. If you telegraph to Enderby my brother will send carriages there to meet us.”
“Very well,” said Mr. Force, as he shut the carriage door and gave the coachman the address to which he was to drive.
Mr. Force then sent his two servants with the dog and the lighter luggage in another conveyance after his family, while he and Leonidas Force attended to the duty of having their trunks transferred from the custom house to the Lime Street Railroad Station.
An hour after this the whole family were gathered around the tea table in their private parlor at the Adelphi. The dog, stretched on a Russian rug before the sofa, was making himself at home.
“What do you think of all this, Rosie?” kindly inquired Mr. Force of little Rosemary Hedge.
“I—I—feel as if I were reading it all in a novel by Aunt Sukey’s evening fire at Grove Hill,” replied the quaint little creature.