“Well, it can’t be helped now, anyway,” said cheerful Geraldine. “You can write a note this evening, and she’ll have it to-morrow. Isn’t it great to be off on a journey by ourselves, and going to Molly’s? I’d rather visit Molly Chester than any girl I know except you. Wasn’t it dear of them to ask Jerry?”
Gretel said no more on the subject, but she still looked rather grave and troubled. She had a very kind heart, and the thought of having hurt any one’s feelings by any carelessness or neglect of her own, was really painful to her. But it was impossible to resist the high spirits of the Barlow twins, and she was soon chatting and laughing as much as any of the party. The journey proved a very pleasant one, for Mr. Chester was a most agreeable traveling companion. He seemed what Geraldine described in a letter to her mother, “A very understanding person.” He told amusing stories, bought chocolates from the man who sold candy on the train, and treated them all to ginger-ale from the dining-car. Before they reached their destination, Jerry had confided to his sister that their host was “a jolly good sort,” and that he considered Paul Chester a mighty lucky fellow to have “such a sport” for his father.
It was six o’clock when they reached New London, and found Molly waiting for them at the station.
“This is just too nice for words,” she exclaimed, leading the way to the Chesters’ big touring-car, after giving her friends a rapturous greeting. “I was so afraid you wouldn’t be able to come at such short notice. Kitty is coming to-morrow. Her family are going to motor her over from Stockbridge. You have no idea how excited Paul is about your coming, Jerry. He would have been at the station, but he has to study with a tutor every afternoon from four to six. He had scarlet fever in the spring, you know, and it put him back in his lessons.”
The Barlows had been to New London before, but it was Gretel’s first visit to the old town, and she looked about her with eager eyes, as the car rolled through the narrow streets.
“I love the salt, fishy smell,” she declared. “It makes me think of ships, and traveling, and all sorts of interesting things.”
“I hope you don’t think it’s all as ugly as this,” said Molly. “It’s quite different out at the Point, where our house is.”
It certainly was quite different, and as they turned in at the Chesters’ gate, and saw the beautiful harbor lying almost at their feet, not only Gretel, but the twins as well, uttered an exclamation of delight.
“I didn’t know any house could be quite so close to the water,” said Gretel. “Why, one could almost throw a stone off the piazza into the harbor.”
“Is that a battle-ship right out there?” Jerry inquired, with deep interest.