"Am I going with her to-morrow morning?"
"Yes. She wanted you to go to-day, but your clothes were not in order."
"We shall come back at night, shan't we?"
"I presume so."
"I hope we shall," said Ida, decidedly, "and that she won't want me to go with her again."
"Perhaps you will feel differently when it is over, and you find you have enjoyed yourself better than you anticipated."
Mrs. Harding exerted herself to fit Ida up as neatly as possible, and when at length she was got ready, she thought with sudden fear: "Perhaps her mother will not be willing to part with her again."
When Ida was ready to start, there came upon all a little shadow of depression, as if the child were to be separated from them for a year, and not for a day only. Perhaps this was only natural, since even this latter term, however brief, was longer than they had been parted from her since, in her infancy, she had been left at their door.
The nurse expressly desired that none of the family should accompany her, as she declared it highly important that the whereabouts of Ida's mother should not be known.
"Of course," she added, "after Ida returns she can tell you what she pleases. Then it will be of no consequence, for her mother will be gone. She does not live in this neighborhood. She has only come here to see her child."