t.
"Did you ever ride in a steamboat?" asked the nurse, in a tone meant to
be gracious.
"Once or twice," answered Ida. "I went with Brother Jack once, over to
Hoboken. Are we going there now?"
"No; we are going to the city you see over the water."
"What place is it? Is it Brooklyn?"
"No; it is Jersey City."
"Oh, that will be pleasant," said Ida, forgetting, in her childish love
of novelty, the repugnance with which the nurse had inspired her.
"Yes, and that is not all; we are going still further," said the nurse.
"Are we going further?" asked Ida, in excitement. "Where are we going?"
"To a town on the line of the railroad."
"And shall we ride in the cars?" asked Ida.
"Yes; didn't you ever ride in the cars?"
"No, never."
"I think you will like it."
"And how long will it take us to go to the place you are going to carry
me to?"
"I don't know exactly; perhaps three hours."
"Three whole hours in the cars! How much I shall have to tell father and
Jack when I get back!"
"So you will," replied Mrs. Hardwick, with an unaccountable smile--"when
you get back."
There was something peculiar in her tone, but Ida did not notice it.
She was allowed to sit next the window in the cars, and took great
pleasure in surveying the fields and villages through which they were
rapidly whirled.
"Are we 'most there?" she asked, after riding about two hours.
"It won't be long," said the nurse.
"We must have come ever so many miles," said Ida.
"Yes, it is a good ways."
An hour more passed, and still there was no sign of reaching their
journey's end. Both Ida and her companion began to feel hungry.
The nurse beckoned to her side a boy, who was selling apples and cakes,
and inquired the price.
"The apples are two cents apiece, ma'am, and the cakes are one cent
each."
Ida, who had been looking out of the window, turned suddenly round, and
exclaimed, in great astonishment: "Why, Charlie Fitts, is that you?"
"Why, Ida, where did you come from?" asked the boy, with a surprise
equaling her own.
"I'm making a little journey with this lady," said Ida.
"So you're going to Philadelphia?" said Charlie.
"To Philadelphia!" repeated Ida, surprised. "Not that I know of."
"Why, you're 'most there now."
"Are we, Mrs. Hardwick?" inquired Ida.
"It isn't far from where we're going," she answered, shortly. "Boy, I'll
take two of your apples and four cakes. And, now, you'd better go along,
fo
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