They did not quite know what they had expected to see, but what they did see astonished them. The wild things caught in the bush, and carried in cages to the Eastern market, could not have felt more surprised or dismayed by the novelty of the situation than did these intrepid damsels when they found themselves fairly launched into the world they were so anxious to know. For a few minutes after their arrival they stood together silent, breathless, taking it all in; and then Patty--yes, it _was_ Patty--exclaimed: "Oh, _where_ is Paul Brion?" Paul Brion was there, and the words had no sooner escaped her lips than he appeared before them. "How do you do, Miss King?" he said, not holding out his hand, but taking off his hat with one of his father's formal salutations, including them all. "I hope you have had a pleasant passage. If you will kindly tell me what luggage you have, I will take you to your cab; it is waiting for you just here. Three boxes? All right. I will see after them." He was a small, slight, wiry little man, with decidedly brusque, though perfectly polite manners; active and self-possessed, and, in a certain way of his own, dignified, notwithstanding his low stature. He was not handsome, but he had a keen and clever face--rather fierce as to the eyes and mouth, which latter was adorned with a fierce little moustache curling up at the corners--but pleasant to look at, and one that inspired trust. "He is not a bit like his father," said Patty, following him with Eleanor, as he led Elizabeth to the cab. Patty was angry with him for overhearing that "Where is Paul Brion?"--as she was convinced he had done--and her tone was disparaging. "As the mother duck said of the ugly duckling, if he is not pretty he has a good disposition," said Eleanor. "He is like his father in that. It was very kind of him to come and help us. A press man must always be terribly busy." "I don't see why we couldn't have managed for ourselves. It is nothing but to call a cab," said Patty with irritation. "And where could we have gone to?" asked her sister, reproachfully. "For the matter of that, where are we going now? We haven't the least idea. I think it was very stupid to leave ourselves in the hands of a chance young man whom we have hardly ever seen. We make ourselves look like a set of helpless infants--as if we couldn't do without him." "Well, we can't," said Eleanor. "Nonsense. We don't try. But," added Patty, after a pause, "we must begin to try--we must begin at once."