“Sure!” added Freddie.
At the dinner table Bert and Nan noticed that their father seemed worried over something. He went to the window several times to look out at the storm.
“If this keeps up the shipment will never arrive,” he said to his wife.
“You mean the Christmas trees?” she asked.
“Yes,” answered Mr. Bobbsey. “They are late now, and something seems to be wrong up there in the woods.”
“Shan’t we have any Christmas tree?” asked Freddie, who did not know just what was being talked about.
“Oh, I guess so,” his father said, and again he went to look at the snow.
“Are you going to sell Christmas trees?” Bert asked. He had caught the word “shipment,” and knew it had to do with some part of his father’s lumber business.
“Yes, I am going into the Christmas tree business this year,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “That is, I have bought a large shipment of them to be sent here to me from the North Woods. If they get here in time I can sell them and make some money. But if this snow keeps up, the carloads of trees, or the shipment, will be delayed, and if they don’t get here at least a week before Christmas they will be of little use to me. But perhaps the snow will not be as heavy as I fear.”
“I didn’t know you sold Christmas trees,” remarked Nan.