"Yes, and that is not all; we are going still further," said the
nurse.
"Are we going further?" asked Ida, her eyes sparkling. "Where are we
going?"
"To a town on the line of the railroad."
"And shall we ride in the cars?" asked the child, with animation.
"Yes, didn't you ever ride in the cars before?"
"No, never."
"I think you will like it."
"Oh, I know I shall. How fast do the cars go?"
"Oh, a good many miles an hour,--maybe thirty."
"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 two hours."
"Two whole hours in the cars!" exclaimed Ida. "How much I shall have
to tell father and Jack when I get back."
"So you will," said Mrs. Hardwick, with an unaccountable smile,
"when you get back."
There was something peculiar in her tone as she pronounced these
last words, but Ida did not notice it.
So Ida, despite her company, actually enjoyed, in her bright
anticipation, a keen sense of pleasure.
"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.
An hour passed. She amused herself by gazing out of the car windows
at the towns which seemed to flit by. At length, both Ida and her
nurse became hungry.
The nurse beckoned to her side a boy who was going through the cars
selling apples and seed-cakes, and inquired their price.
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