At the frame building which served as a railroad station were gathered a number of persons who were indifferent to the conditions.
A large group of them surrounded a young girl, dressed in a dark-blue serge traveling costume with a black hat trimmed with a blue bird's wing. Her face was flushed with excitement and in her hands she was carrying a new suitcase which she had failed to place on the platform.
She looked extremely stylish and efficient, and yet was not actually so self-possessed as she appeared.
"Will you please put down your bag, Jeanette, or allow one of us to carry it for you?" Cecil Perry protested.
"With half a dozen boys in your immediate neighborhood one would receive the impression that we had no manners, or else that you were afraid to trust any one of us."
Laughing, Jeanette surrendered her bag.
"Don't employ that lofty tone with me, Cecil. I know you have traveled often and far. But kindly remember this is the first journey of any length that I have ever taken in my life. I am trying to give the impression that I am thoroughly accustomed to it, but realize that I am obliged to make mistakes now and then."
Jeanette glanced about until her eyes fell upon a young woman whose costume indicated that she also was waiting for the train.
"A profound secret, Cecil! If your mother were not leaving with me I should somehow manage at this instant to slip away from all of you and hide myself in a clump of sage. Then back to the beloved Rainbow Ranch in the morning! I could climb up into my own room at Rainbow Castle without the family knowing in case they decline to shelter a coward."
Olivia Colter had come up to her sister's side and at this moment put her arm around her, clinging fast.