“Me, either,” said Janet. “But maybe he’ll come back to us.”
“And maybe Tom Taylor and me—I mean I—maybe we’ll find the burglars that went into Miss Ransom’s store,” said Teddy.
“How can you, when Tom Taylor isn’t here?” asked Janet.
“That’s so,” agreed her brother. “I wish Tom was here,” he went on. “I like to play with him. Could he come and stay with us?” he asked his mother.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin looked at one another and laughed in a queer way.
“Oh, have you got a secret?” cried Janet, for she had seen her father and mother laugh like this before. “Have you a secret?”
“Maybe—just a little one,” said her mother, still smiling. “But now you children play around, while daddy and I take the things out of the auto and get ready for supper.”
Supper was to be the first meal in the bungalow at Silver Lake, and plenty of things to eat had been brought along, so that not much cooking would have to be done the day the Curlytops arrived. Later on Nora, the cook, was to come and help Mrs. Martin.
“I can help get supper,” said Uncle Ben.
“All right, then we’ll let you help,” said Mrs. Martin. “Now, Jan and Ted, you take good care of Trouble while I’m busy.”