“You needn’t mind people; I don’t. I’ll always go with you, and take care of you, you know.”
“There aren’t many things you are afraid of, are there?”
“Why, not many. You see, my father is a soldier, and I have to be brave.”
“Oh!” this explained the situation fully to Mabel, and they returned to the subject of the auction.
“Next time,” said Harold, “I’ll do all the bidding, and you need not come into the room, if you don’t want to.”
“Oh, but I do want to; it’s sort of exciting, although I do get tired of hearing the auctioneer; but as long as it is the only way of getting the book, why, of course, we must go to every auction we hear of.”
Therefore, a few days later they made their plans again, hopefully, to go to a house in Germantown, where Harold had discovered that an auction was to be held that day.
“Where are you two children off to, now?” Mrs. Ford asked. “Is it the Zoo this time, or Rittenhouse Square?”
“No, mamma,” Mabel replied, “do you mind if we go to Germantown?”
“To Germantown? Why, that is a long trip for two small bodies. Are you sure you won’t get lost?”