ny little
railroad, which had the strangest cars Patty had ever seen.

They were almost like freight cars, with benches along the sides. There
were no tickets, and presently the guard came in to collect their fares,
as if in a street-car.

Moreover the luggage had been tumbled in without check or paster, and
Patty wondered if anybody ever could pick out their own again.

"Your regular first-class coaches are funny enough," she said to Lady
Hamilton, "but they are comfortable. This box we're in is like a cattle
pen."

"Oh, no," laughed Lady Hamilton; "this isn't bad at all. You see it's
only a tiny branch road, running to some little hamlets, and it's not
much used. There are only about two trains each way every day."

This gave Patty a different idea of the little railroad, and she began to
feel a more personal interest in it. They rolled slowly through the
hop-growing country, and though the scenery was not grand, it was
picturesque. Patty said it was like a panorama of "The Angelus." They
reached their station at about five o'clock, and found a fine open
barouche awaiting them, and a wagon for their trunks.

The footman greeted them deferentially, and asked them to pick out their
luggage from the lot that had been dumped on the station platform.

"I can't see either of my trunks," said Patty. "So I suppose I'd better
take the ones I like best of these others."

"Nonsense," said Lady Hamilton; "yours must be here somewhere. Look
around, Marie; you know Miss Fairfield's boxes."

"Yes, my Lady; but they are not here."

Sure enough, they weren't there, and as Patty was certain they had been
put on the train, she concluded they had been carried on.

"What can I do?" she cried. "Can we telephone to the next station and
have them sent back?"

But in that small station, merely a tiny box, there was no telephone.

The impassive coachman and footman from Herenden Hall seemed to have no
advice to offer, so there was nothing to do but to proceed to the house.

Patty was distressed at the outlook.

"Oh, Kitty," she said; "I can't go to dinner at all! Of course I couldn't
appear in this travelling costume, and I'll have to put on one of your
negligees, and eat dinner all alone in my room!"

The prospect was appalling, but neither of them could think of any help
for it.

"Has Lady Herenden any daughters about my age?" Patty asked, after a few
moments' thought.

"No, indeed. She and Lord Herenden have no childre