So one day they put us in the train safely, and we were to be met at Katoomba.

And the thought jumped into my head as we went along: Why ever shouldn't I come home on the quiet?
So I told Marian she could explain to her people I had gone home instead, and that she was to be sure to make it seem all right, so they wouldn't write to Miss Button.

And then the train stopped at Blackheath, and I jumped straight out, and she went on to Katoomba, and I came home.
That's all.

Only, you see, as I'd lost my money there was nothing left for it but to walk." Meg smoothed the dusty, tangled confusion of her hair.
"But you can't live out here for the week," she said, in a troubled voice.

"You've got a horrid cough with sleeping outside, and I'm sure you're ill.