But none came, though twice, when the doorbell rang, the children rushed into the hall, thinking it was some one coming with the lost dog.
The first ring, however, was by a man looking for a new family who had just moved on the street, and the second time it was a woman who called to return a pattern she had borrowed of Mrs. Brown that morning.
“Oh, dear! I guess we’ll never find Patter!” sighed Bunny.
“Maybe he’s dead!” half sobbed Sue.
“Nonsense!” laughed their father. “Don’t be so gloomy! You’ll have your dog back soon.”
But there was no news and no sign of the trick dog the next morning, though Bunny ran to the shed as soon as he could slip out of bed and downstairs.
“I dreamed in the night that he’d come back,” said Sue, and she was much disappointed when she found out the dream had not come true.
After breakfast and after Mr. Brown had telephoned to the police, only to find they had no trace of the dog, Mrs. Brown asked:
“What had we better do about the children’s show? Some of the ladies on the committee have been calling me up.”
“Well,” said Mr. Brown slowly, “even if we got Patter back now, he might be so frightened over being lost that he would not do his tricks well, and he’d spoil the performance. I think the safest plan would be to call the show off for a while. It can easily be given later.”