ugh flat Holland country, but
on the next we had reached the hills, all walled-up and covered with
vineyards. That evening we arrived at Cologne, where we were to stay
a day to see the Cathedral, and went to our hotel. And here the great
adventure begins!

"'No sooner had we arrived at the hotel and asked for mail, than the
clerk handed Mrs. Hill a telegram. It was from her music-teacher in
Berlin, and asked her to be in Berlin the next day without fail for a
lesson. What was she to do? She said she just couldn't miss the
lesson, and yet she just couldn't bear to take us girls before we had
seen the Cathedral or the castles on the Rhine.

"'It didn't take Jess and Anne and me long to decide. She must go on,
of course, we told her, and we would see the Cathedral, go up the
rest of the Rhine quite by ourselves, and on by train from Mayence to
Berlin. We could see she was hesitating, probably feeling that Anne
might be trusted, but not being exactly sure of those Blackmore
twins.

"'"The language?" she said. "Your German? You may not find English
spoken everywhere, you know."

"'Anne hastened to remark that I had studied German for three years,
and carried off honors. Her imagination gave birth to the honors,
whereupon I, wishing above all else to play my part, cleared my
throat, thought a moment, and requested the clerk to bring me a glass
of water, which he did with a grin.

"'Whether my visible success reassured Mrs. Hill or not, I do not
know, but anyhow she departed that night for Berlin, leaving us
loaded with endless instructions, extra money, and a tiny red German
dictionary. I never felt so officious in my life as when I called a
cab and ushered Jess and Anne into it after the train had pulled out.
I can see now why it is that Thomas Cook and Son have been so
eminently successful.

"'The next day we spent browsing around in the Cathedral. To describe
it would be out of place in this letter, which deals primarily with
adventure. I might say, however, that Jess bought all of you silver
pendants of the Three Wise Men of Cologne, when she ought to have
saved her money. That evening we took the Rhine-boat--the _Parsifal_
this time--and when we awoke in the morning we were well among the
castles. It was a marvelous day, and I'll have loads to tell you
about it in the fall.

"'We reached Mayence in the evening in a pouring rain, and to