"She won't leave it; she knows we haven't finished reading it. We must hurry or we won't get back for the next train and that would be a sad go."
"I shouldn't care," remarked Jack nonchalantly.
"To tell you the truth, neither should I," returned Nan, "for I am quite willing to see more of this nice old place, but we can't do just as we would like; we must think of mother and Aunt Helen. Don't stop to look at those postal cards, we can do that some other time."
So forth they fared into the streets of the old part of the city where in a certain shop the delectable sweets could be had in their perfection. It was in this same shop that they met the old gentleman. The encounter came about in this wise. Jack dropped a penny on the floor, and after groping for it under the counter, she came up in a dark corner and her head met the rotund middle of an old gentleman standing there. "Good gracious!" he exclaimed, fairly jumping in surprise as Jack crawled out.
"I hope I didn't hurt you," said Jack apologetically.
Then the old gentleman began to laugh, and said Jack afterward, "He was just like Santa Claus, for he shook like a bowlful of jelly. If I had known how far from his feet he stuck out in front I would have come out further along."
The laugh showed that he was not hurt, and Jack was so relieved that she laughed too. "Thought you'd knocked the breath out of me," said the old gentleman. "Well, I find I can breathe yet, though I wonder what made you come butting into me in that way. Are you a goat?"
"No," returned Jack; "I'm only a kid."
"Ho-ho! Ha-ha!" laughed the old gentleman. "That's pretty good. Come here, kid, and tell me which of the candies in those jars you think looks the most eatable."
Jack gravely scanned the jars. "I think that nutty kind looks best, don't you?" she said. "Unless you don't like nuts," she added.