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 was done, for I was going there the next day, and he was to join me later.

"You remember the Kirbys who live in Columbus, and visited us last Winter? Well, Father had promised that I should spend some time with them, and had written that I would arrive that week. He left me to tell them what train I would come on; so I wrote a note the night before starting, telling them that I would be in at half-past eight the next evening.

"I had never been to Columbus before, and so when I got off the train, I looked all up and down the platform for Mr. Kirby and Mabelle; but they weren't anywhere in sight. 'Couldn't get through the gates,' thought I, and I took a better grip on my things and started down the platform. I had my valise,—it's alligator, you know, and it's heavy,—and a three pound box of candy for Mabelle, and some magazines, and a bag of fruit, and my umbrella, and another box of candy that had been in my valise and wouldn't go back. My hat was wabbly, too.

"At the end of the platform was a tall flight of steps,—I never saw steps look so tall!—and I started up, trying to keep my shoulders back and