A mere oversight nearly wrecked two lives. Happily the mistake was discovered before remedy had become impossible.
"Goodbye, Miss Martyn, and a merry Christmas to you!"
"Goodbye, Miss Martyn; how glad you must be to get rid of us all! But I shall remember you on Christmas Day."
"Goodbye, dear Miss Martyn; I hope you won't feel dull. We shall all think of you and wish you were with us, I know. A very happy Christmas to you."
"The same to you, my dears, and many of them. Goodbye, goodbye; and, mind, no nonsense at the station. I look to you, Lesbia, to keep the others in order."
"Trust me, Miss Martyn; we'll be very careful."
"I really think I ought to have gone with you and seen you safely off, and——"
"No, no, no—you may really trust us. We've all of us travelled before, and we will behave, honour bright!"
Off for the Holidays
And with a further chorus of farewells and Christmas wishes, the six or seven girls, varying in age from twelve to seventeen, who had been taking their places in the station 'bus, waved their hands and blew kisses through the windows as the door slammed, and it rolled down the drive of Seaton Lodge over the crisp, hard-frozen snow. And more and more indistinct grew the merry farewells, till the gate was reached, and the conveyance turning into the lane, the noisy occupants were hidden from sight and hearing to the kindly-faced, smiling lady, who, with a thick shawl wrapped about her shoulders, stood watching its departure on the hall steps.