All was ready very early in the morning, for Dot was to start upon her journey at ten o'clock.
The little school trunk and the family portmanteau stood side by side in the hall, labelled and ready to go forth—neat clean labels, bearing the inscription in Dot's best hand-writing—
Miss Bruce,
Passenger to Katoomba,
Blue Mountains."
A strange excitement was upon Dot. She had never before in her life been upon a railway journey.
The household generally, from her father down to little Nancy, treated her with gentle politeness as a newly arrived and just departing guest.
At breakfast the bread was handed to her without her once asking for it; Nancy watched her plate eagerly, that she did not run out of butter; Mary ran in with a nicely poached egg just at the right moment; Mrs. Bruce kept her cup replenished without once asking if it was empty.
"Don't do any view hunting or gully climbing alone," said Mr. Bruce. "It's the easiest thing in life to be lost in the bush. Besides, no girl should roam about alone."
"Oh, don't be too venturesome, darling!" said Mrs. Bruce. "Just think if you fell down one of those valleys or gaps or falls!"
Yet Dot had never been "too venturesome" in her life.
"A little more bread?" inquired Cyril; "don't bother to eat that crusty bit; we can, and I'll give you some fresh."