"We'll miss you awfully in the spring fête, Janet!"
"That blue suit with the gray tones is too utterly sweet on you for anything, Janet."
"'Bye, Jannetje Van Meter Eldon. Give the Dutchman my best regards."
All this, to be sure, was before Miss Hilliard appeared from her room to take Janet to the taxi which was waiting outside. And funniest of all, several of the girls, who knew more about where Janet was going than the rest, took hands and sang softly around Janet:
"O Uncle Pieter, Pieter Van Meter Ain't no one sweeter, Be sure to meet her, Pieter Van Meter!"
Lips parted in merry smiles; girls were waving last goodbyes and kisses, as Janet was whirled away in the taxi beside Miss Hilliard. One tear, of which Janet had been scarcely aware, was now carefully wiped away to keep it from splashing upon the new suit. "Weren't the girls lovely, Miss Hilliard?" she asked. "I never was so surprised as when my little club gave me this sweet silk scarf that just goes with the suit, and the pair of hose that I have on."
"Well, it _is_ fragrant, for I put a drop of violet on it before I started."
Last pictures of the merry girls floated in Janet's mind, with the appearance of the fine old brick building, almost flush with the street, its vines, over the large windows, just budding with spring green.
But the future was more interesting than the past. The very fact that Janet knew so little about what it might hold for her made it all the more fascinating to contemplate.
At Albany, when Miss Hilliard and Janet descended from the train which brought them from New York they started into the station but were met at once by an obsequious colored man in livery, who inquired if they were not the Van Meter guests and took their light bags. Inside, a fine-looking woman, in a roomy coat of gray and a close hat, seemed to have been watching for them, and came forward to meet them. "I am Mrs. Holt, Miss Hilliard. This is our cousin Janet, I suppose. I am glad to see you both. Allow me to present Mr. Andrew Van Meter, Miss Hilliard,--Cousin Janet. Now we are hoping that you will come to the farm with us, Miss Hilliard. My cousin Pieter begs pardon for not having urged it, but until your last note came, he did not feel like asking you to leave your girls."