"This is my suit case, and, oh, there's my trunk," Sprite said.

"Oh, the coachman will take care of those. We'll get seated so as to
reach home in just no time. I can't wait to take you to mamma."

The color brightened in Sprite's dimpled cheeks.

She was determined not to be homesick, and the ride along the fine
streets, and then up the long avenue, showed such grand residences,
such spacious piazzas, such velvet lawns and gorgeous masses of flowers,
that the sea captain's little daughter began to wonder if she were in
some new country, or at Avondale, where her new friends actually lived.

"Here we are!" cried Polly, as the horse slackened his pace at the
broad gateway, "and this is Sherwood Hall, your new home for the
Winter."

"For _part_ of the Winter!" called a merry voice, and Uncle John
Atherton with Rose beside him in his big motor, laughed gaily as Sprite
turned to learn who greeted her.

For a moment the carriage and the motor stood side by side, while the
three small girls chatted gaily, then, believing that Mrs. Sherwood
and Polly should greet their guest, uninterrupted by neighbor or friend,
Uncle John bowled away down the avenue, they responded to Rose's waving
handkerchief, and then rode up the driveway.

"Oh, what a lovely, _lovely_ house!" cried Sprite, "and what a dear
place to live in. I _know_ I'm to be happy here!"