"I went away from my home for a visit when I was sixteen," she said—"to Katoomba, too!" Then she took Dot into her arms and held her closely for a minute. "Come back to us the same little girl we are sending away," she said as she let her go.
Cyril was waiting on the bush track, with the home-made "go-cart" piled up with Dot's luggage. He had to push it to the corner of the road and help it on the coach.
He was very anxious to get home again, for he had heard a few words whispered pleadingly by Dot, then a whispered consultation between Mr. and Mrs. Bruce. He knew what it was about. Even before his father patted Betty's head and told her to start afresh from that minute, and his mother kissed her and said, "Be a good madcap Betty, and we'll commence now instead of to-morrow morning."
Whereat Cyril became anxious to get home again to discover his sister's plans for the day.
Nancy was crying and clinging to Dot's skirt.
"Be quick and come home again," she said. "You look so nice in that hat!"
Betty climbed over the gate instead of going through it.
"I'm going down to the road to wave my handkerchief to you," she said. "Oh, mother, will you lend me yours. Mine's gone."
When she reached the road corner, a dog-cart flashed by, almost upsetting Cyril's equilibrium as he laboured along the road.
In the dog-cart were Captain Carew and big John Brown. John looked steadily at the horse's head, fearing an explosion of wrath from his grandsire if he smiled at his fellow fortune-seeker. He, too, was going to the mountains for his holidays, preparation to commencing life at a Sydney Grammar School.