"Maybe I did," said Mary Jane, "but I think the swan boats are lots the nicest."
Mrs. Merrill decided that they wouldn't go into the Yard at this time; Hal would be busy and couldn't show them around, and she much preferred that Alice and Mary Jane should get their first impressions of the wonderful university when they could see it right. So Uncle Hal put them on a surface car for Boston and with a promise to dine with them in their hotel, bade them good-by.
"I just don't see why anybody would ever ride in a cellar when they might be riding on a bridge over a lovely river," said Mary Jane as she looked at the Charles gleaming in the warm June sunshine.
"They must be in an awful hurry to get somewhere or those things would never be built," added Alice.
"Well, you know," laughed Mrs. Merrill, "we're in a hurry sometimes ourselves! We're not always ladies of leisure as we are to-day. And you see, it's a long ride back to Boston. What shall we do when we get there, girls?" she added.
"Get lunch," answered Alice promptly.
"Lunch!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill, teasingly, "after all that breakfast?"
"Breakfast!" said Mary Jane, teasing back, "did we have breakfast?"
"All right then, ladies," said Mrs. Merrill, "we'll have lunch. And then how would you like to take an automobile ride that Hal told me about? It doesn't last much over an hour and we can see the old part of Boston, the historic part and also the foreign district your father was telling you about the other day."
"That would be fine, Mother," said Alice eagerly, "don't let's stop long for lunch. Let's just eat something and go—I love to see old places. Remember St. Augustine, Mother?"