But the mother was turning toward the railroad station. There would be only time enough to go there and to get some lunch, she said, and they must not stay in the Garden any longer.
After lunch they went on board the train, and before long they had crossed the line and were in New Hampshire. Ella had a tiny yellow-covered geography at home, and she knew from the map just how New Hampshire ought to look. It ought to look like a tall, narrow chair with a very straight back. But from the car window it looked like wide fields of grass and clover and daisies and hills and brooks and valleys. Here and there were great elms, their branches swaying gracefully in every breeze. Along the rail fences were bushes of what Ella was almost certain were blackberries, and nearly ripe. There were deep woods, too, and now and then she caught a glimpse of a gleaming yellow or white blossom as the train hurried onward. Sometimes they rode for quite a long way beside the blue Merrimack River. It was low water, and she could see the markings that the current had left on the sand. They were just like the markings in the little brooks that she always liked so much, only these were larger.
Early in the afternoon they came to Concord, and the mother’s friend met them at the station. But what did this mean? Ella’s eyes grew bigger and bigger, for the friend held by the hand a little girl about as tall as Ella. After she had greeted them, she said to Ella,
“This little girl has come to live just across the street from us, and I am sure that you will be good friends. Her name is Ida Lester, and she has come to meet you and walk home with you.”
So the mother and her friend walked up the shady street, and the two little girls walked along behind them, looking shyly at each other. Ella liked Ida, and Ida liked Ella.
“Do you like checkerberry candy?” asked Ella.
“Yes, I do,” Ida replied. “I had a stick of red and white peppermint candy yesterday.”
“A lady on the cars gave me some checkerberry candy,” said Ella. “I wish I had saved half of it for you.”
“I wish I had saved half of mine for you,” said Ida heartily. “I will next time. Are you going to live here?”
“Oh, no,” replied Ella. “We are just going to make a little visit, and then we’re going to see my grandmother in New Hampshire.”