“Can’t you come along, old man?” asked Walter. “We’ve got plenty of room, and we were counting on you later, when you got back from your trip. Now, as long as you’re here, can’t you come with us?”
“I don’t know but what I could. Yes, I will. I haven’t anything on. I’ll go home and pack up right away. You leave in the morning? I guess I can make it.”
“Well, when you go, please take them with you,” and Cora indicated her brother and Walter. “Then we’ll be able to go on with our packing. Really, Jack,” and she spoke most seriously this time, “you must go!”
“All right, Sis!” he agreed. “Don’t forget,” he added, to Marita, as he rose.
“What nonsense has he been telling you now?” asked Belle with a laugh. “Don’t believe him, Marita.”
“Don’t tell!” cautioned Jack. “It’s a secret!”
Somehow the boys were gotten out of the room, and somehow the girls managed to get through with their packing in time for the expressman.
From the Kimball home driveway the expressman drove with the baggage, and soon the trunks were rattling down the main street of Chelton, that pretty New England town, nestling in a bend of the Chelton River.
“Well, that’s over, thank goodness!” sighed Cora, as she saw the baggage safely off. “Now to get ourselves ready for morning. You girls will take supper with me.”
“Oh, that’s too much,” protested Belle.