On Monday afternoon the Corner House girls walked down to the railroad station to greet Rosa Wildwood. It had been a very hot day in town and it was really hot at Pleasant Cove, as well.
“Oh! you poor thing!” gasped Ruth, receiving Rosa in her strong arms as she stumbled off the car steps with her bag.
“I’m as thin as the last run of shad, am I not?” asked Rosa, laughing. “That train was awful! I am baked. It’s never like this down South. The air is so much dryer there; there isn’t this humidity. Oh!”
“Well, you’re here all right now, Rosa,” cried Ruth. “We have a nice, easy carriage for you to ride in. And the dearest place for you to live!”
“And scrumptious eating, Rose,” added Agnes.
“With the little old woman who lives in a shoe,” declared Tess, eager to add her bit of information.
Dot’s finger had strayed to the corner of her mouth, as she stared. For she had never met Rosa before, and she was naturally rather a bashful child.
“Now!” cried Ruth, again. “Where is he?”
“Who?” demanded Agnes, staring all about. “Neale didn’t come, did he?”
“Oh, he’s up in the baggage-car ahead,” said Rosa, laughing.