CHAPTER III THE JOURNEY
As the train drew into the Satuit Station, it seemed to spill children from every door. Counting them carefully, Granny Flynn and Mrs. Dore found to their great relief that the twelve, with whom they started, were still all with them. But—big and little—they were all so full of the excitement of the trip that it looked as though, at any moment, they might vanish in the strange country which surrounded them. Arthur, leading the two boys, started an investigation of the station. The three big girls followed. Only the little children, tired by the trip and awed to quiet by the unfamiliar surroundings, stayed close to the women’s skirts. Timmie’s big full eyes surveyed in wonder the strange new world. Delia, who had fallen comfortably asleep in her mother’s arms, suddenly waked up, rubbing her eyes, and looked about her. “Oh take me back to Shalstown!” she wailed in a sudden attack of homesickness and fortunately fell asleep again.
“Oh here’s the car!” Maida called.
A big comfortable limousine came round the bend of the road. The driver alighted, and came forward. “Here I am at last, Miss Maida,” he said, his hand to his cap.
“Oh good afternoon, Botkins,” Maida greeted him. She introduced him to Granny Flynn and Mrs. Dore; then to the children.
“I’m sorry I was late, ma’am,” Botkins said to Granny Flynn, “but I nearly ran over a dog in the road. I stopped to see if it was all right.”
“And was it?” Rosie Brine, who had a passion for animals, asked eagerly.