t this, for the illness she had spoken of as a bad cold
had really been much worse than that.

'Let's hurry on,' she said, 'I shan't feel safe till we've got to the
station,' for which I certainly thought she had good reason.

I had meant to go by the front way, which was actually the shortest, but
the scarlet bundle staggered me. Luckily I knew my way about the streets
pretty well, so I chose rather less public ones. And before long, even
though the package was not very heavy, Peterkin began to flag, so I had
to help him a bit with it.

But for that, there would have been nothing about us at all noticeable.
Margaret was quite nicely and quietly dressed in dark-blue serge,
something like Blanche and Elvira, and we just looked as if we were a
little sister and two schoolboy brothers.

'Couldn't you have got something less stary to tie up your things in?' I
asked her when we had got to some little distance from Rock Terrace, and
were in a quiet street.

She shook her head.

'No,' she said, 'it was the only thing. I have a nice black bag, as well
as my trunks, of course, but the witch or nurse has hidden it away. I
_couldn't_ find it. It's just as if they had thought I might be planning
to run away. I _nearly_ took nurse's waterproof cape; she didn't take it
to London to-day, because it is so fine and bright. But I didn't like
to, after all. It won't matter once we are in the train, and at Hill
Horton it will be a good thing, as my own nursey will see it some way
off.'

We were almost at the station by now, and I told Margaret so.

'All right,' she said. 'I have the money all ready. One for me to Hill
Horton, and two for you to the Junction station,' and she began to pull
out her purse.

'You needn't get it out just yet,' I said. 'We shall have quite a
quarter of an hour to wait. If you give me your purse once we're
inside, I will tell you exactly what I take out. How much is there in
it?'

'A gold half-sovereign,' she replied, 'and a half-crown, and five
sixpences, and seven pennies.'

'There won't be very much over,' I said, 'though we are all three under
twelve; so halves will do, and returns for Pete and me. Second-class, I
suppose?'

'Second-class!' repeated Margaret, with great scorn; 'of course not.
I've never travelled anything but first in my life. I don't know what
Gran would say, or nursey even, if she saw me getting out of a
_second_-class carriage.'

She made me feel a little cross, though sh