"She would if she had known how nice I am," laughed Roger. "Good-bye, good-bye," and he waved a farewell as long as he could see their car.
Once under way the girls gave themselves up to the excitement of their first travelling by themselves. They examined the faces of all the passengers and decided that no one was very handsome but that they all looked very kind and that they should not hesitate to call upon them for help if they needed it.
"The old man just behind us is something like Grandfather," said Ethel Brown. "If we don't see Mrs. Jackson right off when we get out at Buffalo we'll ask him what we ought to do."
"Aunt Marion said we'd better not speak to anybody except the men wearing the railway uniform," objected Ethel Blue. "If she isn't in sight when we get off we'll ask the conductor or a brakeman or a porter where the waiting room is and we'll go right there and sit down till she comes."
But they need not have been at all concerned, for Mrs. Jackson was at the very steps of their car when they walked down them. A girl of their own age stood just behind her. Mrs. Jackson was tall, with light hair and her daughter was strikingly like her.
"I'm sure this is Ethel Blue!" cried Mrs. Jackson without hesitation. "You have your mother's eyes, dear child. And this is Ethel Brown. Here is my daughter. Her name is Katharine."
Katharine was not shy. She had lived all her life in garrisons and she was accustomed to meeting many people. She shook hands with her guests and took Ethel Blue's bag.
"A friend of Mother's let us have her car to come to the station in," she said. "It's just outside this door. It's more fun than going in the street car."
The Ethels thought so, too, though they flew along so fast that they hardly could see the sights of the new city.
Katharine chattered all the time.