you must be."

Esther's face had brightened too, with relief. This gentle little lady
was so unlike the formidable stranger she had been dreading so, she felt
quite at ease at once.

In another moment they were all on the platform being introduced.

"This is Penelope, and this is Poppy, the youngest of us, and this is
Angela, the third," she said with the air of a proprietor, "and I am the
eldest."

"I am delighted to see you all, my dears," said Miss Ashe warmly, kissing
each in turn. She felt a little nervous under the fire of four pairs of
enquiring eyes; there was nothing rude, though, in their stare; it was
simply full of a wistful, half-incredulous pleasure. They could scarcely
believe their eyes and ears that things were turning out so much less
dreadful than they expected.

Then followed a moment of bustle, while the station-master and the one
porter went in search of the luggage, and the children were led up to
identify the various things as they should be lifted out. When they were
told that the two shabby trunks were all there were to identify,
disappointment was only too plainly written on the men's faces.

Seeing how little it was, the porter readily promised "to wheel it along
by and by," and Miss Ashe turned away with a sigh of relief.

"Now then, chicks," she said cheerily, "we will start for home.
You won't mind a walk, I hope, dears. My house is only fifteen minutes
from the station. Are you _very_ tired?" looking anxiously from one to
the other, but most anxiously at Poppy.

"Oh no," they assured her politely. "We would like to walk, Cousin
Charlotte," added Esther; "after sitting still so long it will be very
nice," and her sisters supported her eagerly.

The engine, with a good deal of puffing and snorting, glided on its way
again. The children stood to watch it, but they saw it depart without any
of the regret they had expected to feel, and then the little party turned
out of the station, on the last stage of their pilgrimage to their new
home.

They were accustomed to the country, of course, so that their first view
of Dorsham did not affect them as it would have affected a town child, but
even they exclaimed with delight at the weird, wild beauty which opened
out before them. The station appeared to have sprung up in the heart of a
little forest of firs, as being the most sheltered spot it could alight
upon in that open country, and it was not until they had walked a little