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During the two hours’ drive into Wairiri, Ann chattered quite gayly with Holmes, beside whom she sat on the front seat, and with Biddy and Jo packed in amongst the luggage in the back. The little girls accepted this sudden removal quite delightedly. The excitement of going into town enthralled them. The thought of being in Wairiri gilded the pill of parting with Mummy and Dad, and Miss Merrill. But they were not really going to be separated from her, Ann told them. Mummy had had to go away, and so they would be much better at Mrs. Marley’s, and Ann herself was going to have a dear little shop and sell hats. They could visit her there sometimes, and they’d have picnics together, and lots of fun. Apparently the party from Tirau were all in the best of spirits! The journey down the coast might have been a veritable joy-ride. At any rate the children believed it to be something of the sort. They drove first to the school, where Holmes interviewed Mrs. Marley, and there the little girls were left. Now came the dreadful moment for Ann, of drawing up at the Imperial Hotel, descending with her luggage, and seeing Holmes drive away in the car. He was staying at the club. He could always run up a bill there, he remarked, with a