exotic or more lovely than the vista through the park with the white peak
of Fujiyama, queen of mountains, glistening in the distance.

Moreover, this little jaunt in the car had stirred their blood into
action. They felt once more the call of the road, the fever to be going.
The old accustomed sensation that they must make a certain place by such
and such a time had returned. They were of one opinion, this party of
Motor-Gypsies: to go back home until sunset would be a foolish waste of
golden hours. Their five wishes accorded like the notes of an harmonious
chord and presently Billie, influenced by the force of this silent
opinion, exclaimed:

"Suppose we take a country road and eat lunch later at some wayside tea
house?"

"Splendid!" cried the others almost before she had finished.

Miss Campbell raised one feeble objection--something about the
weather--but it was promptly overridden by her relative at the wheel,
and presently she settled down in her seat and abandoned herself to the
joy of motion.

"In all the ten thousands of miles we have covered in this car," she
remarked, "I never was happier than I am at this moment."

"Why can't we go to the Arakawa Ridge?" suggested Mary, consulting a
guide book. "It's only seven miles from here on the Sumida River and
there are miles and miles of road bordered by double-flowering cherry
trees."