The train started and was soon whirling along at the rate of twenty miles an hour. Half-way between this and the next station they passed a train bound in an opposite direction. Looking through the window on the side towards the other train, Tom caught a glimpse of granny’s face. The old woman had been compelled to stop till morning, and had taken the first train bound westward. She did not see Tom, who quickly moved her head from the window.
“Sold again!” thought Tom, in high delight. “When granny catches me again, she’ll know it.”
CHAPTER XXV
TOM FINDS HER MOTHER.
Tom sat back in her seat and enjoyed the prospect from the windows, as the train sped along. She felt in unusually good spirits, knowing that she had put granny entirely off the track, and that there was no immediate chance of her recapture.
“If I only had that money granny took from me, I’d be all right,” she said to herself. However, her board and lodging were paid at Mrs. Murphy’s for a week in advance, and that was something.
About forty miles from New York a number of passengers got into the cars. The seats were mostly occupied, but the one beside Tom was untaken. A gentleman advanced up the aisle with a lady, looking about him for a seat.
“Is this seat engaged?” he inquired of Tom.
“No,” answered Tom.
“Then you had better sit here, Rebecca,” said the gentleman. “I think you will have no trouble. You won’t forget where you are to go,—Mrs. Thurston’s, West Twenty-Fifth Street. I can’t recall the number, but a glance in the Directory will settle that.”
“I wish you knew the number,” said the lady.