CHAPTER XIII.
OFF TO THE MOUNTAINS.
“Here's your train!” said Mr. Ashford, hurrying into the waiting-room where he had left his wife and children while he purchased their tickets. “I'll carry Freddie. Come, Marty.”
While they were waiting their turn to pass through the gate Marty and her mother were jostled by the crowd against two small, ragged, dirty boys, who had crept by the officers and were looking through the railings at the arriving and departing trains.
“Lots of these folks are goin' to the country, where 'ta'n't so hot and stuffy as 'tis here,” said the larger boy. “Was you ever in the country, Jimmy?”
“Naw,” replied the other, a thin, pale little chap about seven, leaning wearily against an iron post. “Never seed no country, but I wants to.”
Marty and her mother, who heard what was said and saw the wistful look on the small boy's face, pressed each other's hands and exchanged a sorrowful glance. Then they were obliged to move on; but after going through the gate Marty pulled her hand out of her mother's and, running back, took a couple of cakes from a paper bag she carried and passed them through the fence to the boys. How their faces brightened at this little act of kindness!