re." Then her eyes suddenly lit up, and she exclaimed with a little
shriek of joy, "He _are_ here! That is he standing by the big timber. My
Karl! my Karl! He are here!"

There indeed he was, foremost in the throng, a tall, brown, handsome
fellow, with a nice, strong face, and such a look of love and
expectation in his eyes that prosaic Imogen suddenly felt that it might
be worth while, after all, to cross half the world to meet a look and a
husband like that,--a fact which she had disbelieved till now, demurring
also in her private mind as to the propriety of such a thing. It was
pretty to see the tender happiness in the girl's face, and the answering
expression of her lover's. It seemed to put poetry and pathos into an
otherwise commonplace scene. The gang-plank was lowered, a crowd of
people surged ashore, to be met by a corresponding surge from the
on-lookers, and in the midst of it Lieutenant Worthington leaped aboard
and hastened to where his sister stood waiting him.

"You're coming up to Newport with me at five-thirty," were his first
words. "Katy's all ready, and means to sit up till the boat gets in at
two-thirty, keeping a little supper hot and hot for you. The Torpedo
Station is in its glory just now, and there's going to be a great
explosion on Thursday, which Amy will enjoy."

"How lovely!" cried Amy, clinging to her uncle's arm. "I love
explosions. Why didn't Tanta come too?--I'm in such a hurry to see her."

Then Mr. Worthington asked to be introduced to Imogen and Lionel, and
explained that acting on a request from Geoffrey Templestowe, he had
taken rooms for them at a hotel, and secured their tickets and sleeping
sections in the "limited" train for the next day.

"And I told them to save two seats for Rip Van Winkle to-night till you
got there," he added. "If you're not too tired I advise you to go.
Jefferson is an experience which you ought not to miss, and you may
never have another chance."

"How awfully kind your brother is," said the surprised Imogen to Mrs.
Ashe; "all this trouble, and he never saw either of us before! It's very
good of him."

"Oh, that's nothing. That's the way American men do. They _are_ perfect
dears, there's no doubt as to that, and they don't consider anything a
trouble which helps along a friend or a friend's friend. It's a matter
of course over here."

"Well, I don't consider it a matter of course at all. I think it
extraordinary, and it was so very nice in Geoff