Dr. Smith climbed into the back seat beside the trunk and Grandfather started the car and went spinning down the road.
"Your roads all know where they're going, don't they?" Mary Jane asked as they got under way.
"Yes," replied Grandfather in surprise; "don't yours?"
"Not like yours do," said Mary Jane positively; "ours go this way." And with her finger she made some big curves in the air.
"Oh!" laughed Grandfather, "you mean that yours are curving because of the hills and that ours are straight. Yes, our roads are pretty straight but you'll like that when you get used to it, because then you can't get lost. There's a road every mile and each road goes just the way it by rights ought to go because there aren't any hills to get in the way." And all the while Grandfather was talking, he was driving the car along the straight road just as fast as could be.
"And aren't there any hills before we get to your house?" asked Mary Jane after a while.
'"Well," said Grandfather smilingly, as he slowed the car down, "what do you think about that yourself?"
Mary Jane looked before her, the way she could see Grandfather wanted her to look, and, right there close, she saw a big, old-fashioned white house. It had a flower bed, a great big round flower bed, in the yard in front of it and a curving driveway along the side. And it had a wide porch all across the front, a porch that had seats and a swing and everything a little girl would like to see on a porch. A lot of windows with green shutters were scattered over the house, and through the windows Mary Jane could see ruffled white curtains at every window. And on the porch of this house stood a pretty, white-haired grandmother, just the sort of a grandmother that belongs to every white house in the country.
"I think there aren't any hills because here we are!" exclaimed Mary Jane happily as Grandfather stopped the car by the side steps.
Quick as a minute Dr. Smith jumped her out of the car and Grandmother Hodges, for it really was she, just as Mary Jane had guessed, gave her a hug and a dozen kisses and Mary Jane felt at home from that minute.