Princess Pollys Gay Winter | Page 5

so hard to get me
ready for the long visit, I'd give it up now. I'd rather go back with you."

"Tut, tut, Sprite! Be a brave lassie, and try to make the trip bravely. Ye
need the good schooling and the merry playmates. The Winter at the
shore is always dull. Cheer up, now. We're to have a letter, remember,
as soon as ye reach Avondale."
"Ay, ay, sir!" he said, as the conductor beckoned, impatiently, and with
another kiss, and a hasty "Good-bye," he left the car.
Sprite knew that he would stand on the platform, and she turned toward
the window.
Through blinding tears, she saw his stalwart form, and she tried to
smile, for his sake.
Before she could chase away the tears, the train had started, she saw
through her tear-dimmed lashes a blurred landscape, and then,--why
she was actually riding away from her seashore home! For a time she
sat, as if in a dream, and then the conductor came along. Little Sprite
looked up into his pleasant face, and wondered why he paused.
"Let me see your ticket, my dear," he said, and she blushed at her
forgetfulness, and drew it from her pocket.
He punched it, and then, in a gentle, fatherly way, he said:
"Your father, Captain Seaford, is a firm friend of mine. He asked me to
look out for you, and see that you got off the train at Avondale. He said
this was your first bit of travelling alone, but that your friends would be
waiting for you when you arrived."
"They will, oh, they will!" she eagerly cried, "and thinking of that
makes me feel happier. I've never been away alone before."
"I've a little girl at home who is much braver to talk about going away
from home, than she is when the time comes to start. But don't worry,
little Miss Seaford," he said, with a laugh, "for I'll be your friend all the
way to Avondale."

"Oh, thank you," she said, and he thought that he had never seen a
lovelier face. She opened the new book, hoping that the story and the
pictures might make her forget her homesickness. It was evident that
she considered a good book a good friend.
The story held her attention, the picture charmed her, and the box of
candy was an added comfort. She nestled close to the window, her long
golden hair fell over her shoulders, and framed her face, and the old
conductor smiled when he passed down the aisle, and looked at the dear
little figure.
"The book has made her forget to worry," he said, softly.
A little later, when he paused beside her seat, she looked up to smile at
him.
"I keep right on reading," she said, "because if I stop to think, I
remember that all the time I'm going farther away from home."
"Then whenever you look up from the page, just remember that you are
getting nearer, and nearer to Avondale, where you can write your first
letter home," he said in an effort to cheer her.
"Oh, yes," said Sprite, "and I'll do that before I go to sleep to-night, and
post it early to-morrow morning." Then, for a long time, she read the
fascinating story.
Just as she closed the book she realized that the train was slowing
down.
The conductor was coming toward her. What was the brakeman
saying?
"The next station will be Avondale!" he shouted, and little Sprite's heart
beat faster.
The conductor stood at her seat now. "I'll take your suit case," he said.
"Come with me."

How her little heart beat!
Would they be at the station? They had promised to be there when the
train arrived.
She could not see from where she stood in the aisle.
Ah, now the train had actually stopped! She was out on the platform!
She was going down the steps. The kindly conductor was saying
something about wishing her a pleasant visit. The train was starting off.
Oh, was she utterly alone?
"Sprite! Oh, you've come!" cried a sweet, familiar voice, and Princess
Polly caught both her hands.
"I was so afraid that something would happen, and you wouldn't come,"
she cried.
"And I was wondering what I'd do if I didn't see you when I left the car.
Oh, wouldn't I have been frightened?" said Sprite, with a nervous little
laugh.
"Oh, how could you think I'd miss coming to meet you? Mamma said
the last moment, as I ran down the steps:
"'I do hope you will find Sprite at the station,' and I did," Polly said.
"Now, come over to the carriage, and we'll fly to Sherwood Hall."
"This is my suit case, and, oh, there's my trunk," Sprite said.
"Oh, the coachman will