Mrs. Peterkin was sure they would not want to lose one; they could
hardly pick out which they could spare, she felt certain. Agamemnon
declared there was no necessity for such risks. They might go directly
by some vessel from Boston to Egypt.

Solomon John thought they might give up Egypt, and content themselves
with Rome. "All roads lead to Rome;" so it would not be difficult to
find their way.

But Mrs. Peterkin was afraid to go. She had heard you must do as the
Romans did if you went to Rome; and there were some things she certainly
should not like to do that they did. There was that brute who killed
Cæsar! And she should not object to the long voyage. It would give them
time to think it all over.

Mr. Peterkin thought they ought to have more practice in travelling, to
accustom themselves to emergencies. It would be fatal to start on so
long a voyage and to find they were not prepared. Why not make their
proposed excursion to the cousins at Gooseberry Beach, which they had
been planning all summer? There they could practise getting in and out
of a boat, and accustom themselves to the air of the sea. To be sure,
the cousins were just moving up from the seashore, but they could take
down a basket of luncheon, in order to give no trouble, and they need
not go into the house.

Elizabeth Eliza had learned by heart, early in the summer, the list of
trains, as she was sure they would lose the slip their cousins had sent
them; and you never could find the paper that had the trains in when you
wanted it. They must take the 7 A.M. train into Boston in time to go