So Mary Jane followed the porter down to the end of the aisle where he brushed and brushed till there wasn't a speck of dust on that pretty Peter Thompson suit. Alice and Mrs. Merrill had their turns next, then the porter took their hand baggage down toward the door.
"Do we get there now, Mother?" asked Mary Jane, "right away quick now?"
"We certainly do," answered Mrs. Merrill, "we're there this minute. Come girlies."
As the train came to a stop, Mary Jane looked out of the window in the narrow hallway by the dressing room—she wanted to be sure to get a glimpse of the wonderful Boston she had heard so much about. And at the very first glance, she spied Uncle Hal's smiling face close up outside of her very window. Alice saw him too and they waved and tried to speak and he grinned and motioned to the car door. In a twinkle they were off the train, Uncle Hal had picked up their bags, and they were walking up the stairs to the street.
Of course everybody talked at once, folks always do when they are met at the train, but through it all Mary Jane got the idea that they were walking to the hotel because it was so very, very near, and that Uncle Hal had time to visit with them a while before he went back to college for some last duties before Class Day.
Alice and Uncle Hal walked on ahead talking a blue streak about teams and baseball and all sorts of things that Mary Jane, for her part, didn't find particularly interesting. She was glad to be walking with her mother so she could look and ask all she liked. Five minutes walk and they were in a broad "square" framed on every side by fine looking buildings.
"That's the library I've told you so much about," said Mrs. Merrill nodding her head toward the left, "and this, I think," looking ahead to the right, "is our hotel."
She was right for just then Alice and Uncle Hal turned into the hotel and in a very few minutes they were all seated in the room Hal had engaged for them so many weeks before.
"There now, he's gone and I can look around," said Mary Jane as the door closed behind the boy who had carried up their bags. She slipped down from the big chair where she had primly settled herself and began exploring. One big bed, one little bed, lots of drawers in dressers and cupboards, a lovely white bathroom and, over in the corner of the room overlooking the Square, a desk and several easy chairs pulled together just right for visiting.
"How in the world did you know just exactly the kind of a room I'd like?" asked Mary Jane when she had finished her first tour of exploring.