CHAPTER XII.
"A POST OFFICE LETTER." The "far-off" feeling rather increased upon Dotty.

It seemed to her that she had never before reflected upon the immense distance which lay between her and home.

The house might burn up before ever she got back.

Prudy might have a lung fever, and mamma the "typo." It was possible for Zip to choke with a bone, and for a thousand other dreadful things to happen.

And if Dotty were needed ever so much, she could not reach home without travelling all those miles.
Then, what if one of the conductors should prove to be a "_non,_" and she should never reach home at all, but, instead of that, should be found lying in little pieces under a railroad bridge?
Sister Prudy had never troubled her head with such fancies.