"Yes," put in Jennie, "please don't cry any more, girls. It makes me so miserable to see you. I might have done the same thing if I had been with you."
Thus comforted, the girls dried their eyes and followed Jennie and Mrs. Ramsey upstairs to bathe [172]their faces and get ready for lunch. It was too bad to have lost a whole morning, but there could be a great deal crowded into an afternoon, and, by the time the glass flowers had been found, peace reigned and everyone was happy.
There was a drive around the beautiful parkway that evening and a visit to the splendid library that night. "We shall have to leave Plymouth Rock till another year," Mrs. Ramsey remarked as they set out for their trip the next morning. "I think you will enjoy Lexington and Concord more than a rather longer journey by water as you have just come from the seashore." This time there was no delay and there was plenty of time to visit the old battle-field, to see the brown house where dear Louisa Alcott used to live, to hunt up Emerson's home and the spot endeared by memories of Hawthorne. Ben was intensely interested in it all and told the girls many things which made them understand much better what they were seeing.
They must return in time to meet Mr. Ramsey at the Parker House, and to get ready for their journey home, but there was a chance to walk through the botanical gardens and the Commons, to look across at the gilded dome of the State House, and to see the church where the great Phillips Brooks had preached.
It was hard to part with Jennie and her mother, but the thought of home and the dear ones there [173]was too happy an anticipation to cause any tears to be shed, and the little girls went off with a memory of Boston marred only by that unfortunate shop window in the foreign quarter.
[174][CHAPTER XII]
HOME AGAIN
"Are you going all the way home with us?" Edna asked Ben as they left the boat at the wharf.
"Yes, Mr. Ramsey thinks he should stay in New York for the day, and has handed you over to my tender mercies, so if we can get a good train you will be at home in a very few hours."
"Now that we are so near I'm just crazy to get there," said Dorothy. "Will they know exactly when we are coming, Ben?"
"We can easily let them know either by telephone or telegraph."