Part 2

"You don't have to do a thing for me Mother," she said happily. "'Cause I know how to put my shoes in the hammock and take off my hair ribbon and roll it up and everything. And I'm going right straight to sleep so I can wake up early, early in the morning."

"That's a good idea," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "for early, early in the morning we shall be getting into Boston and Uncle Hal will be there to meet us."

*FIRST GLIMPSES OF BOSTON*

"Like to be brushed?"

Mary Jane turned from the window to see the porter standing by her, brush in hand ready to make her tidy for getting off the train. She looked questioningly at her mother and Mrs. Merrill replied, "Yes, dear, let him brush you off so you will be spick and span when we meet Hal."

So Mary Jane followed the porter down to the end of the aisle where he brushed and brushed till there wasn't a speck of dust on that pretty Peter Thompson suit. Alice and Mrs. Merrill had their turns next, then the porter took their hand baggage down toward the door.

"Do we get there now, Mother?" asked Mary Jane, "right away quick now?"

"We certainly do," answered Mrs. Merrill, "we're there this minute. Come girlies."

As the train came to a stop, Mary Jane looked out of the window in the narrow hallway by the dressing room--she wanted to be sure to get a glimpse of the wonderful Boston she had heard so much about. And at the very first glance, she spied Uncle Hal's smiling face close up outside of her very window. Alice saw him too and they waved and tried to speak and he grinned and motioned to the car door. In a twinkle they were off the train, Uncle Hal had picked up their bags, and they were walking up the stairs to the street.

Of course everybody talked at once, folks always do when they are met at the train, but through it all Mary Jane got the idea that they were walking to the hotel because it was so very, very near, and that Uncle Hal had time to visit with them a while before he went back to college for some last duties before Class Day.

Alice and Uncle Hal walked on ahead talking a blue streak about teams and baseball and all sorts of things that Mary Jane, for her part, didn't find particularly interesting. She was glad to be walking with her mother so she could look and ask all she liked. Five minutes walk and they were in a broad "square" framed on every side by fine looking buildings.

"That's the library I've told you so much about," said Mrs. Merrill nodding her head toward the left, "and this, I think," looking ahead to the right, "is our hotel."

She was right for just then Alice and Uncle Hal turned into the hotel and in a very few minutes they were all seated in the room Hal had engaged for them so many weeks before.

"There now, he's gone and I can look around," said Mary Jane as the door closed behind the boy who had carried up their bags. She slipped down from the big chair where she had primly settled herself and began exploring. One big bed, one little bed, lots of drawers in dressers and cupboards, a lovely white bathroom and, over in the corner of the room overlooking the Square, a desk and several easy chairs pulled together just right for visiting.

"How in the world did you know just exactly the kind of a room I'd like?" asked Mary Jane when she had finished her first tour of exploring.

"Well," said Uncle Hal, much pleased to think she liked it all, "I can't say that I really knew, but I did try pretty hard to guess."

"Now as soon as the trunk comes," continued Mary Jane, "let's unpack it and show him our new dresses. We've new shoes too," she added proudly, "for Class Day you know."

"Fine!" replied her uncle, "I know I'm going to be proud as a peacock of my family when I introduce them around to-morrow. But I'll tell you, Mary Jane," he added persuasively, "I know how slow those expressmen are commencement week and you don't. Suppose we keep the dress for a surprise to me to-morrow and go for a walk now while I have some time."

"I'd like that," agreed Mary Jane, "only what'll they do if the trunk comes while we are walking?"

"They put it in your room all ready for you," said Uncle Hal.

"Then I'm going walking with you," announced Mary Jane.

"And I'm going too," said Alice, "I just can't hardly wait till I see everything."

"And I'm going too," laughed Mrs. Merrill, as she put her hat back on, "because I don't want to miss anything either."

"Aren't we missing something anyway?" asked Alice as they walked from the room.

Mrs. Merrill and Hal looked back into the room.

"No-o," she answered, "I guess not. What did you think we were leaving?"

"I didn't think we were leaving anything," said Alice half laughing, half embarrassed, "but--"

"Oh, I know," announced Mary Jane laughingly, "I'm missing it too. It's breakfast."

"You don't mean to say--" exclaimed Uncle Hal. "That's certainly one on me! You see, I'm so little used to having my family come to see me, and so very glad to see them when they get here, that I actually forgot breakfast. We'll have to get an extra good one to make up for it."

And an extra good one it certainly was; for Mary Jane had strawberries and cream and toast and fish and hashed brown potatoes and a cup of delicious hot cocoa with whipped cream. While they ate, Mary Jane told Uncle Hal more about her Class Day frock.

"It's white, and pink ribbons--lovely long crispy ribbons," she told him, "and new shoes, _pumps_ just like grown-up ladies." Of course Uncle Hal was much impressed as Mary Jane had hoped he would be, but neither he nor Mary Jane herself would ever in the world have guessed the trouble those pretty new pumps were going to make before another day was over!

Breakfast finished, they went for their walk, going through the Square and down as far as the Commons. The city looked fresh and clean, after a rain the night before and the flowers in the Commons nodded their fresh blooms and looked as though they had grown on purpose to make Mary Jane think Boston was beautiful.

"Now then," said Uncle Hal, looking at his watch, "I've just time for a surprise and then I'll have to leave you."

"Couldn't we go along to Harvard with you?" asked Alice.

"Yes, you could," replied Uncle Hal, "want to?"

"'Deed I do," answered Alice heartily, "I don't want to miss anything."

"Then with me you go, for even if I can't stay with you long, you can have the ride out and back. But now for the surprise."

He guided them across a bridge and down a sheltered path to a tiny lake and there riding on the water were several great white swans. No, they weren't swans either. They were much too big for real swans and there were seats on a platform right behind. Boats--that's what they were of course. Boats in the shape of swans!

"Can we ride on them?" asked Mary Jane breathless with excitement, "really ride on them--people can?"

"To be sure people can," laughed Uncle Hal, "and we're going to this very minute."

He bought four tickets while Mary Jane and Alice climbed into the nearest seats and then he and Mrs. Merrill sat just behind them.

"Where's the engineer?" asked Mary Jane.

"Coming," replied Uncle with a chuckle, "there he is, now."

Mary Jane watched an elderly man step aboard the boat and take his place on a queer-looking seat between the wings of the "swan" and much to her surprise he didn't start any engine: instead he began pedaling as if he was riding a bicycle. The swan boat moved away from the pier and, as the man pedaled, they rode with a slow and stately motion out into the little lake.

It was a queer way to ride, being bicycled around a lake in a boat built to look like a swan but Mary Jane loved it. They moved slowly--just like a swan in a fairy tale--and it didn't take Mary Jane a minute to forget all about Boston and the Commons and to fancy that she was a princess in a fairy tale and that the kind swan was drawing her in a magic boat through her country to visit her subjects. She didn't see the flower beds by the side of the tiny lagoon; she didn't see the children playing on the beach; she didn't hear the talk Mrs. Merrill and Uncle Hal were enjoying; she didn't even talk to Alice sitting right by her side. Mary Jane saw only the magic of the fairy tale that was in her mind and enjoyed the thrill of being a princess.

With a slight bump the swan boat touched the dock and Uncle Hal took her hand to help her off.

"Oh, do we have to get off?" she exclaimed in dismay, "we've only just begun to ride!"

"Like it so well?" asked Uncle Hal, "then you shall have a ride every day while you are here. I remember when I was a little kid and came to visit Boston, I liked them a lot. That's why I brought you here first thing this morning. But I guess we'll have to go now if you're going out to Cambridge with me."

Very reluctantly Mary Jane stepped off the boat and with a promise to herself that she would ride again every single time she possibly could, she trudged along behind the others.

A short walk brought them to the entrance of the subway. Of course Mary Jane hadn't an idea what a subway was, for there wasn't any such thing in any city she had ever lived in or visited, but she gathered from what Uncle Hal said that it must be something that took them out to Cambridge. But such a funny something as it was she never would have imagined!

They went down some stairs, through a turnstile and onto a platform. Before Mary Jane's eyes were used to the queer, half-darkness of the platform, and her nose to the funny, dank smell, there was a rumble and a roar and along came a car. They were crowded aboard and again there was a rumble and roar and away they dashed--past red lights and green lights, past platforms and more platforms till in no time at all (or so it seemed to Mary Jane) they were up on a street, dashing across a long bridge, down again in the ground and Uncle Hal saying, "Time to get off! We're at Cambridge!"

They hurried off and up the stairs to the fresh air.

"That's better than the old, slow, surface car," said Uncle Hal as they crossed the street.

"Then the surface car must have been pretty bad," said Mary Jane positively, "'cause this one smells _awful_ and hurries so fast you can't see anything!"

"You're right about those two things," laughed Uncle Hal, "and I suggest that you take a surface car to go back because then you can see all the sights you want to on the way. But of course, Mary Jane, you wanted to ride in a subway once."

"Maybe I did," said Mary Jane, "but I think the swan boats are lots the nicest."

Mrs. Merrill decided that they wouldn't go into the Yard at this time; Hal would be busy and couldn't show them around, and she much preferred that Alice and Mary Jane should get their first impressions of the wonderful university when they could see it right. So Uncle Hal put them on a surface car for Boston and with a promise to dine with them in their hotel, bade them good-by.

"I just don't see why anybody would ever ride in a cellar when they might be riding on a bridge over a lovely river," said Mary Jane as she looked at the Charles gleaming in the warm June sunshine.

"They must be in an awful hurry to get somewhere or those things would never be built," added Alice.

"Well, you know," laughed Mrs. Merrill, "we're in a hurry sometimes ourselves! We're not always ladies of leisure as we are to-day. And you see, it's a long ride back to Boston. What shall we do when we get there, girls?" she added.

"Get lunch," answered Alice promptly.

"Lunch!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill, teasingly, "after all that breakfast?"

"Breakfast!" said Mary Jane, teasing back, "did we have breakfast?"

"All right then, ladies," said Mrs. Merrill, "we'll have lunch. And then how would you like to take an automobile ride that Hal told me about? It doesn't last much over an hour and we can see the old part of Boston, the historic part and also the foreign district your father was telling you about the other day."

"That would be fine, Mother," said Alice eagerly, "don't let's stop _long_ for lunch. Let's just eat something and go--I love to see old places. Remember St. Augustine, Mother?"

"Indeed I do, dear," answered Mrs. Merrill. "Here we are at Copley Square. I have a feeling we had better go to our room first--there might be a message or something. Then we'll get lunch and take the ride."

It was a good thing Mrs. Merrill thought to go to the hotel and inquire for a message, for there was one for them--one that changed all their plans for the afternoon.

*AN UNEXPECTED VISIT AT WELLESLEY*

Mrs. Merrill turned from the hotel desk and looked in a puzzled way at the slip of yellow paper she held in her hand.

"What _do_ you suppose this means?" she said as she came up to where the two girls were sitting in big chairs waiting for her. "It says, 'Phone Cambridge 2811 at once.' Somebody telephoned five minutes ago, the clerk said, and was very anxious to reach me. Now whatever can have happened? Hal didn't know we were coming back here, so it couldn't be he and we don't know another soul. However," she added briskly, "I needn't be so silly as to stand here wondering when I might go to the 'phone and find out all about it. You stay right here, girlies, and I'll 'phone from the booth over there and we'll solve the mystery."

Mary Jane and Alice could hardly wait, they were so curious and impatient to find out what had happened. They could see Mrs. Merrill talking but she was too far away for them to make out whether she was pleased or distressed by the conversation. In two or three minutes though, she left the booth and came towards them and the girls could tell by the way she was smiling that something very nice and agreeable had happened.

"We're to be up at the station in thirty minutes," she announced, "the station where we came in this morning, and Uncle Hal will meet us and take us out to see Wellesley--what do you think of that?"

"But, Mother," exclaimed Alice, "I thought he had a lot of work to do?"

"He still has," said Mrs. Merrill, "but just after we left him he got a message from one of his friends at Wellesley telling him that the Tree Day dance was to be given this afternoon at the Garden Party, and that when it was first shown it was so very wonderful, we surely must see it."

"And so he told her we were here?" said Alice.

"He didn't have to, she already knew that," said Mrs. Merrill, "and her invitation included us. So just on a chance that we might come to the hotel, he called up and left the message for us. We won't have time to change or anything, but I guess we look all right in traveling clothes. Let's hurry now, so's not to miss the train."

"But where's lunch?" asked Mary Jane in dismay, "I am hungry, truly I am."

"Of course you are, dear," said Mrs. Merrill reassuringly, "and we'll get a bite. Hal said there was a nice little place right on the way to the station and if we go quickly, we'll have time for a sandwich and a glass of milk. Then if that isn't enough, perhaps we can get something later. In fact," and she smiled mysteriously, "I think I wouldn't worry a bit about starving if I were you."

After that Mary Jane didn't bother about being hungry--she was too busy wondering what was going to happen. They got a sandwich, a luscious big chicken sandwich with white meat sticking out all around the edges, and a glass of milk, a great big glass of milk, and that was all there was time for. Even so they barely got down the stairs in time for their train.

The ride out to Wellesley was great fun, for Uncle Hal told them stories all the way--stories of jolly times he had had going over this same route and of fun at Wellesley.

"When I grow up," announced Alice as they got off at the station, "I'm coming to Wellesley and I'm going to know some folks at Harvard and everything just like you've been telling us about."

"And I'm coming here too," said Mary Jane, "I wouldn't go to any place but Wellesley 'cause it's the very nicest."

"A lot you know about it," teased Uncle Hal, "now why is Wellesley the nicest--can you tell that?"

"'Cause it's near to Harvard," said Mary Jane, and of course if she had thought all day, she couldn't have thought up an answer that would better please her Harvard uncle.

"We'll hop onto this trolley and ride to the entrance to save time," said Uncle Hal as he hailed a passing car. They rode a very little way, really not a nickel's worth Mary Jane said, and found themselves at the college entrance.

Of the next hour and a half Mary Jane didn't have a very clear understanding. There was so much to see that a person just couldn't see and remember it all; and so many folks talking that one couldn't hear everything. But she remembered what she could and saved it up to ask her mother about afterward. There were the old-fashioned red brick buildings on the quadrangle and the stately Tower Court where Hal's friend, Miss Elliott, lived, and the beautiful campus with its lovely old trees that cast an inviting shade over the lawns.

"I'm going to study hard and come here to college," said Alice, after they had completed their trip around the grounds, "I think it would be just _wonderful_ to live here for four years! And just think, Mother," she added, "in five years I'll be coming here!" She looked dreamily over the beautiful place and tried to imagine herself one of the girls in gay sport clothes walking under those very trees.

"I'm coming here too," said Mary Jane, "and I'll be here before so very long, won't I, Mother dear?"

"Before we know it, at the rate you girls are now growing," laughed Mrs. Merrill, "and just think of the fun _I'm_ going to have coming here to 'settle my daughters' when they begin college."

Miss Elliott found them excellent seats where they could watch the dancing, and Mary Jane enjoyed sitting and looking at everything quite as much as being shown around. She thought the dancing wonderful and held her breath with the joy of it as the dancers came gayly down the shaded hill, across the open green and back up the hill again when the dance was over.

"I'll have to learn a lot if I'm going to come here and do all that," she whispered to her mother when the dancers were out of sight behind the greenery that made the background.

"No doubt about that, dear," said Mrs. Merrill, "but just think how much you are learning all the time! By the time you are grown-up as those girls are, you'll be sure to know a lot."

"Has Uncle Hal said anything about tea or anything?" whispered Alice as the groups of people broke up and she guessed that the program was over.

As though they suspected what the girls might be thinking of, Miss Elliott and Hal came up at that minute and Uncle Hal said, "I've just been telling Dorothy that we'll take our quarter of a cup of tea and half a wafer that we could get over there, some other time, and she's agreed to let me take you all to the Inn for real tea. Want to go or doesn't food appeal to you?"

"Um-m," said Alice, trying hard to be really grown-up like Miss Elliott, "I think I could eat a little if you insist."

"Here's the insisting then," laughed Uncle Hal, and tucking her arm into his, he started off, passed the administration building and down Freshman Row.

Miss Elliott walked with Mrs. Merrill and Mary Jane and pointed out the various houses as they passed them.

"This is where you want to stay your freshman year," she said as they passed a three-story frame building on their left, "lots of nice girls go there and you'll have great larks. But you'll have to put her application in early if you want her to get in there, Mrs. Merrill," she advised, "because it's one of the most popular houses."

"I think I'll put in application for both girls as soon as I can attend to it," said Mrs. Merrill, "for what I have seen of the college in even this one little glimpse, has made me feel that Alice and Mary Jane must go here. I can't imagine a more charming place to spend four years than right here."

Hal and Alice had turned in to a building on the other side of the street so Mary Jane hurried her mother and Miss Elliott that they might catch up.

"He engaged a table by 'phone before he came out," said Miss Elliott, "so we know they'll be looking for us."

"And then they'll have plenty to eat even though there are lots of folks, won't they?" said Mary Jane, much comforted.

Uncle Hal showed them to the table by the window where they could eat and at the same time see everything that might be going on either inside or out.

Mary Jane was a bit curious as to what Uncle Hal might offer her to eat--especially as he didn't ask her what she wanted. But evidently he knew what was good, for when the tray arrived a few minutes later it was piled up with good things.

"I thought you didn't have time to overeat this noon so you might like a hearty tea," he explained as Mrs. Merrill looked with a bit of dismay at the loaded tray. "If you don't want any, sister," he added, "I know some people who can eat more than their share--and I didn't have any lunch myself!"

There were sandwiches--olive sandwiches and lettuce and chicken, all so dainty and pretty that Mary Jane thought she could eat twenty by herself she was that hungry! And tea in dainty gold-rimmed cups, and fudge cake with icing as thick as the cake--almost--and cunning little cakes and candies in paper cases.

Mary Jane watched to see how Miss Elliot fixed her tea and then she took cloves too, just as Miss Elliott did--though it did make a funny taste. Still when one is visiting college one does as college folks do--cream and sugar is all right for home use, but isn't grown-up enough when one is "at college."

After tea, Miss Elliott walked down to the station with them and told them good-by. Mary Jane was sorry that they weren't to see her again but Miss Elliott explained that she would be far too busy with her own college affairs to come to the parties at Harvard.

"What are you thinking about so solemnly?" asked Uncle Hal as they were riding back to Boston, "you haven't said a word for five minutes!"

"I'm thinking 'bout my new shoes," said Mary Jane. "All the girls at Wellesley had white shoes and I've got white shoes--in the trunk. I'm going to wear them to-morrow and you're going to be surprised, you are, Uncle Hal."

"I believe it," laughed Uncle Hal, "I'll wager I'll be proud of my family."

"You won't be, if your family doesn't get back to its room and unpack its trunk pretty soon," said Mrs. Merrill.

"No," she added later, when they got off the train and he started toward their hotel, "you aren't to go a step of the way with us. It's right there in plain sight and we couldn't get lost if we tried. Now hurry back to Cambridge and do your work and don't you dare come to the hotel before seven."

"And we'll unpack and press our dresses and get everything ready for Class Day, won't we Mother?" said Mary Jane, "I think that'll be as much fun as seeing things."

*CLASS DAY FUN--AND TROUBLES*

"They _must_ be all right," said Alice, as the girls were about through dressing for Class Day the next morning. "You know you tried them on three or four times, the day we bought them, and shoes don't change."

Mary Jane walked up and down the room twice, looking all the while at her left shoe. "Well," very doubtfully, "maybe they are all right now, only they don't _feel_ all right--they don't a bit."

Mrs. Merrill sat down in the nearest chair and looked at Mary Jane in consternation.

"You don't mean to say that now when we are every bit ready to go to Class Day, and there isn't time to hunt up a store, that you think your shoes are wrong! Why, Mary Jane, you know you tried them on and tried them on and were sure they were a perfect fit."

"I know it," said Mary Jane, "and they were all right, only now there's something sticks into my heel every time I take a step."