“And so am I,” added Johnny. “Come on, Mary.”
Then they got ready to run out of doors to help the old man get back his hat.
“Oh, dear, we really oughtn’t to go,” spoke Mary, “for we will be sure to be lost, as we always are. But I can’t let you boys go alone. I must be with you. I suppose this is one of those special, extra-extraordinary occasions, and mamma won’t mind very much.”
So Mary Trippertrot and her brothers, Tommy and Johnny, slipped softly down the front stairs, so Suzette, the nursemaid, wouldn’t see them, and out of doors they went.
“Hurry up!” called Tommy, as he ran on ahead, “the old man is nearly around the corner chasing his hat. We must help him, or his hat will be spoiled.”
“That’s right!” said Mary, and away they raced, forgetting everything that their mamma had told them about not going out of the house. But they wanted to do a kindness, you see.
Pretty soon they turned around the corner, and there, down the street, they saw the old man still chasing after his hat. The Trippertrot children soon caught up to him.
“Well, what do you want, little ones?” the man asked, as he turned around and saw them.
“If you please, sir,” said Mary, “we have come to help you chase your hat.”
“Ha! That is very kind of you,” spoke the old man, in a most polite voice. “I am sure I will get my hat now, with so many of us after it. If only the wind didn’t blow so hard my hat would stop rolling along the ground, and then I could get it alone. But I am glad you have joined me. Come on, now, we’ll see if we can’t race after that hat.”