“Oh,” exclaimed Marjorie, clasping her hands, “isn’t it lovely to go motor-carring with your own dear family, and see such beautiful landscapes on the river?”

“Your expressions are a little mixed,” said her father, laughing, “but I quite agree with your sentiments.  And, now, who is ready for a good dinner?”

“I am,” declared Kitty, promptly; and they all laughed, for Kitty was always the first in the dining-room.

The automobile stopped in front of a large hotel which overlooked the College Green.  While Mr. Maynard was engaging rooms, Mrs. Maynard and the children lingered on the veranda.  The beautiful trees of the City of Elms waved high above their heads, and across the Green they could see the stately college buildings.

“Can we go over there?” asked King, who was interested, because he hoped, himself, some day to go to college.

“Not to-night,” said his father, who had just rejoined the group; “to-morrow morning, King, we will all go through the college grounds and buildings.  But now we will go to our rooms and freshen up a bit, and then we must get some dinner for our poor, famishing Kitty.”

Kitty laughed good-naturedly, for she was used to jokes about her appetite, and didn’t mind them a bit.

They went upstairs to a pleasant suite of rooms, one of which was for the use of Midge and Kitty.

“You must change your frocks for dinner,” said Mrs. Maynard to the girls.  “The suitcases will be sent up, and you may put on your light challies.”

So Marjorie and Kitty made their toilettes, stopping now and then for frantic expressions of joy and delight at the fun they were having; and soon, with ribbons freshly tied, and dainty house slippers, they were ready to go downstairs.

CHAPTER XVI

AT THE CIRCUS

The next morning the Maynard family visited Yale College.

As Mrs. Maynard had seen most of the buildings before, she only cared to visit the newest ones, and so she and Rosy Posy spent most of the time wandering about the grounds or sitting on the benches beneath the Elms.  Marjorie and Kitty rambled about as they liked, sometimes going through the buildings with their father and King, and sometimes staying with Mrs. Maynard and the baby.

At luncheon time, Mr. Maynard asked the children what they would like best to do for an afternoon’s amusement.

“Aren’t we going on to Boston this afternoon?” asked Marjorie, in surprise.

“No,” said her father, “it’s a long trip, and so we’ll start to-morrow morning.  Now you children may choose what you’d like to do this afternoon, for your mother and I are going to call on some friends, and we don’t want to take you with us.”

“Well,” said Marjorie, “I can’t think of anything we could do in New Haven, unless you or Mother were with us; so I suppose we’ll just stay here at the hotel, and,—­”