"It's a joy to the soul and a
discipline to the body, Cousin Roxy says."

Anne immediately wanted to know who Cousin Roxy was, and Kit waxed
eloquent on her favorite topic.

"She's an angel in a gingham apron, we girls think," she concluded, "and
yet she can take off the gingham apron and stand up and address any kind
of a meeting. I just can't tell you all that she's been to us since we
lived there."

Early in the afternoon Rex returned, and they caught the 2:45 local up to
Delphi. Kit could hardly keep from looking out of the car window all the
time. Every now and then the rich blueness of the lake would flash through
the trees in the distance, and to the westward there stretched long level
vistas of prairie land, dipping ravines which unexpectedly led one into
woodland ways. Gradually the bluffs heightened as they neared the
Wisconsin line above Waukegan, and just beyond the state line, between the
shore and the region of the small lakes, Oconomowoc and Delevan, they came
suddenly upon Delphi. It stood high upon the bluff, its college dominating
the shady serenity of its quiet avenues.

"The Dean doesn't keep a carriage or car," said Rex as they alighted at
the gray stone station covered with clambering vines. "Besides, he
thought I was bringing a boy, who would not mind the hike up the hill!"

"I don't mind a bit," returned Kit. "I like it. It seems so good to find
real hills after all. I thought everything out here was just prairie. I do
hope they won't be watching for us. It will be ever so much easier if I
can just walk in before they get any kind of a shock, don't you know."

Rex did not tell her which was the house until they came to the two tall
sentinel poplars at the entrance to the drive. Kit caught the murmur of
the waves as they broke on the shore below and lifted her chin eagerly.

"Oh, I like it," she cried. "This is it, isn't it? Isn't it a dear, drowsy
dreamful place? I only hope they'll let me stay."

CHAPTER VIII

AT THE SIGN OF THE MUMMY

"DEARLY BELOVED FAMILY:--

"I can't stop to write separate letters to-night to all of you,
because I'm so full of Delphitis that I can hardly think of
anything else. First of all, Rex met me at the train with his
sister Anne. It's quite all right to call him Rex, Aunt Daphne
says. No relation to us but he lives next door, and is Uncle
Cassius' pet educational proposition next to your little sister
Katherine.