“Bress yo’ heart, honey lamb! Has yo’ got suffin’ fo’ ole Dinah?” she asked with a kind smile.
“You—you’ll be s’prised,” said Freddie, as he handed the fat black cook a cigar box, tied with string.
“Why, Freddie!” exclaimed Nan. “That isn’t your present! Yours is wrapped in blue paper. Don’t you remember? I wrapped it up for you.”
“I’ll give Dinah that present in a minute!” said Freddie, his eyes shining. “I have two for her!”
“Bress his heart!” murmured the cook, as she fumbled with the string.
A moment later it came off, and as the cover of the box flew open out jumped a fat little gray mouse!
“Oh, my! Oh, mah good lan’!” screamed Dinah. “Oh, a mouse! A mouse!” and she jumped up in such a hurry that she knocked over the chair on which she had been sitting.
CHAPTER II—LOCKED UP
“Get him! Get him!” cried Bert Bobbsey, making a dive for the little mouse.
“Oh, don’t let him come near me!” screamed Nan, as she left her seat and hurried over toward her mother.