been singing lustily "Pull for the Shore"; the next moment he was
gone. There was left then only Bertha with Genevieve and Cordelia in the
little parlor; and certainly the last two were anything but sorry when
Bertha rose a little precipitately to go, too, saying:

"I--I think, Genevieve, if you don't mind, I'll go and take off my
shoes. They sort of--hurt me."

"Honestly, Cordelia," moaned Genevieve, when they had the room to
themselves, "I reckon we're not caring just now, whether we're fore or
aft!"

It was not really a serious storm, after all, and not any of the party
was seriously ill. They were all on deck again, indeed, smiling and
happy, even if a little white-faced, long before the journey was ended.

It was during the very last of the "golden hours" that Tilly, her eyes
on Bartholdi's wonderful Statue of Liberty just ahead of them, in the
New York Bay, choked:

"I declare, I'd just like to give that lady our Texas yell. Only think,
girls, our Texas trip is almost over!"

CHAPTER XIX

HERMIT JOE

There was not quite so large a crowd at the Sunbridge station to welcome
the Texas travelers as there had been to see them off; but it was fully
large enough to give a merry cheer of greeting, as the train pulled into
the little station.

"They're all here, with their 'sisters and their cousins and their
aunts,'" laughed Tilly, stooping to look through the window as she
passed down the narrow aisle behind Genevieve.

"I should say they were," answered Genevieve a little wistfully. "We
haven't got any one, I'm afraid, though. Miss Jane's been 'down in
Maine,' as you call it, visiting, and she doesn't come till next week."

"Oh, yes, you have," chuckled Tilly, as she caught sight of an eager
face in the crowd. "There's Harold Day."

"Pooh! He didn't come to welcome me any more than he did the rest of
you," retorted Genevieve severely, as she neared the door.

And what a confusion and chatter it all was, when "their sisters and
their cousins and their aunts"--to say nothing of their fathers and
mothers and brothers--all talked and laughed at once, each trying to be
first to kiss and hug the _one_ returning traveler, before bestowing
almost as cordial a welcome on all the others. At last, however, in
little family groups, afoot or in carriages, the crowd began to leave
the station, and Genevieve found herself with Mrs. Kennedy in the family
carriage with the old coachman sitting sedately up in fro