"And shall we stop in New York?" Bert demanded.

"Yes, for a day or so. And now what do you think of my news?" asked Mr.
Bobbsey.

"It's just--wonderful!" cried Nan. "Oh, we'll have such fun with Nell
and Billy!"

"And I want to see if I can drop a ball off Washington Monument," added
Bert.

"Oh, you hadn't better try that," his father cautioned him. "You might
hit some one. Well, then, it's all settled, and we'll go on the trip.
How about it, Mother?" and he smiled at his wife.

"I think it will be very nice to go," she answered. "I like Mr. Martin
and his children very much, and I'm sure we'll like Mrs. Martin too.
It's fortunate that we can all go--that the children will not lose any
schooling. For if all the classes stop, and the school is closed, they
will all start evenly again when the boiler is fixed. So run along now,
my twins, and get ready for lunch. Daddy and I have lots to talk about."

And so did the Bobbsey twins, as you can easily imagine.

If I told you all the things that happened in the next few days there
would be but little else in this book except the story of getting ready
for the journey. And as the trip itself is what you want to hear about,
and especially what happened on it, I'll skip the getting ready and go
right on with the story.