"Shall we get up the anchor, ma'am?" one of the watermen asked.
"There's plenty of time, is there not?" Hilda asked.
"Yes, ma'am, but we thought that you would like to see how she goes with the others."
"Yes, I should like that," Hilda said, and in a few minutes the barge was under sail again.
"She is a clipper, and no mistake," the man at the tiller said, as one by one they passed the barges that had started ahead of them, and Walter clapped his hands in delight.
"We may as well go down to the lower end of the Hope, miss. We shall have plenty of time to get back again before there is water enough for us in the creek."
For three hours they sailed about, the girls enjoying it as much as Walter.
"I do think, Netta, that I shall have to buy a barge on my own account. It is splendid, and, after all, the cabins are large enough for anything."
"You had better have a yacht," Netta laughed. "You would soon get tired of always going up and down the river."
"One might do worse," Hilda said. "Of course, now we shall give up that big house in Hyde Park Gardens, which is ridiculous for me and the boy. We have each got a country house, and when we want a thorough change I would infinitely rather have a yacht than a small house in town. I don't suppose that it would cost very much more. Besides, you know, it is arranged that I am always to have rooms at your house at the institute. That is to be the next thing seen after; you know that is quite agreed upon."