"Well!" Gail ejaculated. "How shall we begin?"
"I saw a piano as we came through the hall below," Faith half whispered.
"And books! Everywhere!" cried Cherry, her eyes fastened longingly upon the little book-case in the corner. "Do they really belong to us now?"
"Yes, of course," answered Peace in business-like tones. "Come on, Allee; let's get to work and see what we can find before lunch time. This is a pretty big house, and we've got to hustle if we get all around it in an hour and a half. Wonder where grandpa and grandma went. Shall we commence at the bottom and work up, or start in at the attic? I guess the attic first will be best, seeing we've come up one flight of stairs already, and it would be just a waste of time to go down and have to climb them all again." Answering her own question, she clutched Alice's hand and disappeared in one direction, as the sisters, following her example, scattered about the great house on their tours of inspection.
The next ninety minutes were busy ones in the Campbell house, and it was necessary to ring the dinner bell twice before all members of the happy family were summoned to the table.
"Well, how goes it?" smiled the President. "Judging from the time it took to gather the clans, some of you must have been pretty busy."
"We were," dreamily murmured Cherry, who had been dragged bodily from the stacks of books in the library.
"Made any great discoveries?"
"Yes, indeed!" they cried in unison.
"Good! I'm all impatience! Relate your adventures. We are anxious to hear how you like your new home—mother and I. Abigail, you are the oldest; suppose you begin."