They all went over toward the Stadium together, and as they stepped upon the bridge across the Charles River, Uncle Hal picked her up and set her on his shoulder while Mrs. Merrill took a picture of them.
"There now," said Hal as he set her down again, "if anybody ever doubts that you came to my commencement they can just look at that! There's the Charles River in it and the Stadium in the background and you and I in front—if we didn't break the camera."
In the row in front of them, in the Stadium, sat Hal's friends, Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey. Alice and Mary Jane had never met them before, though Mrs. Merrill had known them some time.
"I'm so sorry you've been here all these days and we've been away," exclaimed Mrs. Humphrey, as the Merrills were seated. "We just got in this morning. I'm wondering if you and these nice girls wouldn't like to go for a drive this afternoon? Have you been down on the south shore? Toward Nantasket?"
"We haven't done a thing but Harvard!" laughed Mrs. Merrill, "because Hal wanted us to go to all the exercises and parties. We've had a marvelous time, but aside from one short ride, we haven't tried to see anything of Boston—I thought that would keep till the job of graduating my brother was over," she added.
"That's just the way I knew you would feel," answered Mrs. Humphrey, "because I know how Hal's been counting all winter on your seeing everything. But now that it's so soon over you'll have time for a ride with us. You're not going to the boat races are you?"
"No," said Mrs. Merrill, "I thought that would be almost too much of a crowd for the girls, so we've planned to go to Plymouth to-morrow while Hal and some friends go to the boat race, and then I want to stop over night with a dear cousin in Marshfield."
The talk was interrupted just then by the arrival of the first of the long procession of men entering the Stadium. Mary Jane could hardly sit still she was so thrilled by the sight of the long line of marching men—all in black gowns relieved here and there by the capes of scarlet or blue or purple some wore. And the bands playing and the crowds of people all interestedly watching—of course she couldn't understand it all, but she loved seeing it—it seemed like a scene from an old time pageant.
But by the time the exercises were over Mary Jane was tired enough from sitting on the hard stone seat and from watching and trying to understand. So the idea of lunch at some place in Cambridge without waiting to go back to Boston, sounded very welcome.
"We'll go where Uncle Hal goes sometimes," suggested Mrs. Merrill. "I know the very place on the way back to the Square. You may have a sandwich and some ice cream and anything else they have, that you'd like."