"Of course," she said,
"after Ida returns, she can tell you what she pleases. Then it will
be of no consequence, for her mother will be gone. She does not live
in this neighborhood; she has only come here to have an interview
with Ida."
"Shall you bring her back to-night?" asked Mrs. Crump.
"I may keep her till to-morrow," said the nurse. "After eight years'
absence, that will seem short enough."
To this, Mrs. Crump agreed, but thought that it would seem long to
her, she had been so accustomed to have Ida present at meals.
The nurse walked as far as Broadway, holding Ida by the hand.
"Where are we going?" asked the child, timidly. "Are we going to
walk all the way?"
"No," said the nurse, "we shall ride. There is an omnibus coming
now. We will get into it."
She beckoned to the driver who stopped his horse. Ida and her
companion got in.
They got out at the Jersey City ferry.
"Did you ever ride in a steamboat?" asked Mrs. Hardwick, in a tone
intended to be gracious.
"Once or twice," said Ida. "I went with brother Jack once, over to
Hoboken. Are we going there, now?"
"No, we are going over to the city, you can see over the water."
"What 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.
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