"
"Oh, that's all right. I have my wheel, thank you."
The train stopped, and a number of passengers alighted. But as the train
went on and the small crowd dispersed, Patty remarked in a most
exasperated tone:
"Well, they didn't come on that train. I just knew they wouldn't. They
are the most aggravating people! Now, nobody knows whether they were on
that train and didn't know enough to get off, or whether they missed it
at the New York end. What time is the next train?"
"I'm not sure," said Kenneth; "let's go in the station and find out."
The next train was due at 4.30, but the expected guests did not arrive
on that either.
"There's no use in getting annoyed," said Patty, laughing, "for it's
really nothing more nor less than I expected. The Barlows never catch the
train they intend to take."
"And Miss Allen? Is she the same kind of an 'Old Reliable'?"
"No, Nan is different; and I believe that, left to herself, she'd be on
time, though probably not ahead of time. But I've never seen her except
with the Barlows, and when she was down at the Hurly-Burly she was just
about as uncertain as the rest of them."
"Is the Hurly-Burly the Barlow homestead?"
"Well, it's their summer home, and it's really a lovely place. But its
name just expresses it. I spent three months there last summer, and I had
an awfully good time, but no one ever knew what was going to happen next
or when it would come off. But everybody was so good-natured that they
didn't mind a bit.
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