, "here we are, safe and sound. I am
coming to kiss you in one moment. Carefully, Rose dear! Lean on me, so!
_there_ you are! now take my arm. Slowly, slowly! See, Cousin Wealthy!
see how well she walks! Isn't it delightful?"

"It is, indeed!" said the old lady, heartily, kissing first the glowing
cheek and then the pale one, as the girls came up to her. "And how do
you do, my dears? I am very glad indeed to see you. Rose, you look so
much better, I should hardly have known you; and you, Hilda, look like
June itself. I must call Martha--" But Martha was there, at her elbow.
"Oh, Martha! here are the young ladies."

Hildegarde shook hands warmly with Martha, and Rose gave one of her shy,
sweet smiles.

"This is Miss Hildegarde," said the old lady; "and this is Miss Rose.
Perhaps you will take them up to their rooms now, Martha, and Jeremiah
can take the trunks up. We will have supper, my dears, as soon as you
are ready; for I am sure you must be hungry."

"Yes, we are as hungry as hunters, Cousin Wealthy!" cried Hildegarde.
"We shall frighten you with our appetites, I fear. This way, Martha?
Yes, in one minute. Rose dear, I will put my arm round you, and you can
take hold of the stair-rail. Slowly now!"

They ascended the stairs slowly, and Hildegarde did not loose her hold
of her friend until she had seated her in a comfortable easy-chair in
the pretty chintz bedroom.

"There, dear!" she said anxiously, stooping to unfasten her cloak. "Are
you very dreadfully tired?"

"Oh no!" replied Rose, cheerfully; "not at all _dreadfully_ tired, only
comfortably. I ache a little, of course, but--Oh, what a pleasant room!
And this chair is comfort itself."

"The window-seat for me!" cried Hildegarde, tossing her hat on the bed,
and then leaning out of the window with both arms on the sill. "Rose,
don't move! I forbid you to stir hand or foot. I will tell you while you
are resting. There is a river,--a great, wide, beautiful river, just
across the lawn."

"Well, dear," said quiet Rose, smiling, "you knew there was a river;
your mother told us so."

"Yes, Goose, I did know it," cried Hildegarde; "but I had not seen it,
and didn't know what it was like. It is all blue, with sparkles all over
it, and little brown flurries where the wind strikes it. There are
willows all along the edge--"

"To hang our harps on?" inquired Rose.

"Precisely!" replied Hildegarde. "And I think--Rose, I _do_ see a
boat-house! My dear, this is