closed
her eyes, since she could not remember having slept at all. The last
thing that she remembered was listening to the old gentleman's story,
and then it had seemed as if the very next thing was being awakened by
Aunt Emma's voice.

"Ten minutes, and ever so much more," the old gentleman answered with a
smile. "You have been asleep just two hours."

"Two hours!" and Ruby's eyes were wide open with surprise. "Why, I
never remembered that."

"You were sleeping too sound to remember anything," her friend said.

"Well, I am glad you have had a nice rest, and now you will enjoy
reaching your journey's end all the more. I shall miss you very much
when you get out, for you have been very pleasant company."

"I wasn't very nice when I was asleep, I am afraid," said Ruby, "It was
n't very polite of me to go to sleep, was it?"

"Oh, yes it was when I invited you to," the gentleman said. "And I
enjoyed it, for it seemed just like having my little granddaughter here
with me."

Aunt Emma helped Ruby put her hat on straight, and brushed the dust
from her dress. The engine began to whistle, and that meant that they
were very near a station.

Ruby said good-by to her kind friend, and he gave her his card with his
name upon it, and asked her to write him a letter after she had been at
school a little while and tell him how she liked it, and how she was
getting on in her lessons.

Ruby promised that she would; and then the train began to go more
slowly, and at last stopped with a little jerk at a station, and Aunt
Emma said,--

"Here we are at last, Ruby."

For just a moment Ruby was not glad. She suddenly began to feel a
little shy about boarding school, and remembered what she had not
thought much about before,--that she would have to meet a great many
strange girls, and that it would take some time to become acquainted
with them,--and she wished again, as she had wished many times before,
that Ruthy might have come with her; but she had not much time to think
about anything, for the train did not wait very long for people to get
out, and in a few moments Aunt Emma and Ruby were on the platform of
the station and Ruby was waving good-by to the kind old gentleman, who
was leaning out of the window to see the last of his little friend.

CHAPTER XI.

AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.

There were several cars, and a great many people got out of them, for
this was a junction, and some who were not going to stop here g