Only Sally herself might have explained the matter of the electric lights, but she intuitively felt that for Peter Pan’s sake she must never, never mention anything that she had heard or seen without his permission; and somehow she felt pretty sure that this he would be rather unwilling to grant.
In point of fact the little girl was rather beginning to wonder if it had not all been a dream.
However, she did not allow the matter to trouble her gay little brain, and was the picture of delighted happiness when an hour later, accompanied by mamma and nurse, she stepped into the big motor car and rolled away down town to the shopping district, carrying Peter Pan, who wore an altogether angelic expression, and nobody in the world would ever have suspected that the demure rascal, although somewhat disturbed at the fuss caused by his escapade of the night before, was even then planning some new performance for the ensuing evening.
This shopping trip was instituted chiefly for the benefit of nurse, who was delighted with the gift of a new bonnet that fairly bristled with grapes, while Sally was overjoyed with a beautiful set of library furniture for the doll’s house. After this the little girl was lifted to the loftiest pinnacle of enjoyment by luncheon at one of the fine cafés. Mamma allowed her to select the dishes she liked best, although nurse was rather inclined to shake her head over a combination of oysters, chicken salad, eclairs and café parfait, she herself being more inclined for beefsteak and baked potato. But mamma laughingly declared that it would do no harm for once and Sally enjoyed the menu to its fullest extent, now and then pretending to feed the Teddy bear, who sat up stiffly in a chair by himself, with a biscuit between his paws. After the jolly luncheon another surprise was in store for Sally—a matinee of Buster Brown, over which the child was enraptured. But I regret to say that the play supplied Peter Pan’s already fertile brain with several ideas which he could very well have done without.
It was very close to dinner time when the very happy if very tired little girl trotted upstairs to the nursery hugging Peter Pan to her heart, and rather wondering to hear voices through the half closed door. Then as she entered a sort of whirlwind punctuated by kisses enveloped her, and after the first breathless moment she could only cry out, “Oh Bob! I’m so glad!” and sure enough Bob it was, come back somewhat unexpected from Florida, where he had gone to spend part of the winter with the two pretty aunties whose absence had made a great gap in Sally’s small social circle.
The new Teddy Bears proved a great acquisition