sight. This time he was gone
twenty minutes. When he come back his face wore an expression of the
greatest anxiety.

"She is not on the train. She has been left behind! Foolish woman, to
let herself be separated from us in this stupid way!" testily exclaimed
the Iron King, as he dropped himself heavily into his seat.

"What can be done?" exclaimed Cora, now seriously uneasy about her
unwelcome companion, because she feared that Rose might have been seized
with one of her sharp and sudden headaches and had stepped away from
them as she had done in the church.

"I hope she has had the presence of mind, on finding herself left, to
return to the hotel and wait for the next train. This is the express,
and does not stop until we reach Garrison's. But when we get there I
will telegraph to her and tell her what train to take. It is all an
infernal nuisance--this being jostled about by a crowd."

Cora was consulting a time table. She looked up from it and said:

"It will all come right, sir. There is another train at half-past eight.
If she should take that, she will reach West Point in full time for the
opening of the exercises. We started unnecessarily early."

"I always take time by the forelock, Cora. That habit is one of the
factors of my success in life."

The express train flew on, and in due time reached Garrison's, opposite
West Point. The ferry boat was waiting for the train. As soon as it
stopped, Mr. Rockharrt handed his granddaughter out. The other
passengers followed, and made a rush for the boat.

"Let it go, Cora. We must take time to telegraph to Mrs. Stillwater, and
we can wait for the next trip," said Mr. Rockharrt, still keeping a firm
grip on his granddaughter's arm, lest through woman's inherent stupidity
she should also lose herself, as he marched her off to the telegraph
window of the station.

The telegram, a very long-winded one, was sent. Then they sat down to
wait for the coming boat, which crossed the going one about midstream,
and approached rapidly.

In a few minutes they were on board and steaming across the river.

They reached the opposite bank, and Mr. Rockharrt led his granddaughter
out, and placed her in the carriage he had engaged by telegraph to meet
them, for carriages would be in very great demand, he knew.

They drove up to the hotel in which he had taken rooms. Here they went
into their parlor to rest and to wait for an answer to the telegram.

"It is no use going over t