When the winter season had passed and the first fine days of the early spring appeared, Mrs.Hale secured a buggy for an afternoon and invited Carrie.

They rode first through Lincoln Park and on far out towards Evanston, turning back at four and arriving at the north end of the Shore Drive at about five o'clock.
At this time of year the days are still comparatively short, and the shadows of the evening were beginning to settle down upon the great city.

Lamps were beginning to burn with that mellow radiance which seems almost watery and translucent to the eye.

There was a softness in the air which speaks with an infinite delicacy of feeling to the flesh as well as to the soul.

Carrie felt that it was a lovely day.