"That's where I'll wait," she said softly, "then I won't show while I'm waiting for father." And she slipped back of the big cases while no one was looking and sat down on the shelf. But the minute she got away from the confusing noises and sights, she felt very sleepy, so sleepy that she could hardly keep awake; so very sleepy, so very—
Father's five minutes lengthened out to ten and then his friend stepped into the elevator and Mr. Merrill hurried back to his little girl.
"You must excuse me, dear," he said as he approached where he had left her, "but I hadn't seen Tom in ten years and—" But there was no little girl there!
Mr. Merrill called the floorman and asked about her. "I left her only ten minutes ago," he said as he looked at his watch, "and she wouldn't run off—I know Mary Jane wouldn't run off. She must be here."
"We'll find her," said the floorman, easily, "she must be in some other aisle."
They hunted up and down and up and down the aisles and they looked at many little girls—the store was full of them. But not a sign of Mary Jane did they see. Finally it came time to meet Mrs. Merrill and Alice so Mr. Merrill, knowing that they would be uneasy if he was late, hurried down to meet them and all three came back to resume the search that by now was getting pretty anxious.
"There's no need of your hunting on any other floor," said Mrs. Merrill as the floorman suggested that maybe Mary Jane had gone to hunt her father and had lost her way. "I know my little girl and she's not far from where her father left her. Show me where she was sitting when you left and I'll find her—I'm sure."
Mr. Merrill led her to the very seat where he had left Mary Jane and then, to the surprise of all the clerks and curious shoppers who had become interested in the search, Mrs. Merrill didn't rush around and hunt as the others had. Instead, she sat down in the seat as though she had all afternoon and not a worry in the world. And then, sitting down as Mary Jane had been, she began to look around. And the very first thing she saw was the shelf, way back out of the way; and on the shelf, huddled down in a sleepy heap, her own little girl!
How the people did stare as she jumped up quickly and hurried over to the between aisle where no one had thought of looking. And how every one did smile as she reached down and picked up Mary Jane—Mary Jane all sound asleep!
The little girl opened her eyes and slipped her arm around her mother's neck and then, as she noticed so many folks looking at her, she hid her sleepy eyes in her mother's shoulder.