"You are going to start to-morrow," she said."The good captain of the ship has promised to take care of you, so you will not be afraid, and I know you will be good children."It seemed like a month to Jan and Marie, but it was really only seven days later that they stood on the deck of the good ship Caspian, as it steamed proudly into the wonderful harbor of New York.It was dusk, and already the lights of the city sparkled like a sky full of stars dropped down to earth.High above the other stars shone the great torch of "Liberty enlightening the World." "Oh," gasped Marie, as she gazed, "New York must be as big as heaven.Do you suppose that is an angel holding a candle to light us in?"Just then the captain came to find them, and a few minutes later they walked with him down the gangplank, right into a pair of outstretched arms.The arms belonged to Madame Dujardin, their new mother."I should have known them the moment I looked at them, even if they hadn't been with the captain," she cried to her husband, who stood smiling by her side."Poor darlings, your troubles are all over now! Just as soon as Captain Nichols says you may, you shall come with us, and oh, I have so many things to show you in your new home!"She drew them with her to a quieter part of the dock, while her husband talked with the captain, and then, when they had bidden him good-bye, they were bundled into a waiting motor car and whirled away through miles of brilliantly lighted streets and over a wonderful bridge, and on and on, until they came to green lawns, and houses set among trees and shrubs, and it seemed to the children as if they must have reached the very end of the world.At last the car stopped before a house standing some distance back from the street in a large yard, and the children followed their new friends through the bright doorway of their house.
Madame Dujardin helped them take off their things in the pleasant hallway, where an open fire was burning, and later, when they were washed and ready, she led the way to a cheerful dining room, where there was a pretty table set for four.There were flowers on the table, and they had chicken for supper, and, after that, ice cream! Jan and Marie had never tasted ice cream before in their whole lives! They thought they should like America very much.
After supper their new mother took them upstairs and showed them two little rooms with a bathroom between.One room was all pink and white with a dear little white bed in it, and she said to Marie, "This is your room, my dear." The other room was all in blue and white with another dear little white bed in it, and she said to Jan, "This is your room, my dear." And there were clean white night-gowns on the beds, and little wrappers with gay flowered slippers, just waiting for Jan and Marie to put them on.
"Oh, I believe it is heaven!" cried Marie, as she looked about the pretty room.Then she touched Madame Dujardin's sleeve timidly."Is it all true?" she said."Shan't we wake up and have to go somewhere else pretty soon?""No, dear," said Madame Dujardin gently."You are going to stay right here now and be happy.""It will be a very nice place for Mother to find us in," said Jan."She will come pretty soon now, I should think.""I hope she may," said Madame Dujardid, tears twinkling in her eyes.
"I'm sure she will," said Marie."You see everybody is looking for her.There's Granny, and Mother and Father De Smet, and Joseph, and the people in Rotterdam, and the people in England, too; and then, besides, Mother is looking for herself, of course!""She said she would surely find us even if she had to swim the sea," added Jan.