“Lost! We weren’t lost!” said Bert, in some surprise.
“I know—I was only joking,” his mother told him. “You were gone a long time, and while you were away this friend of yours called,” and she motioned to Mrs. Martin.
“Do you remember me, my dears?” asked Mrs. Martin, nodding at each of the Bobbsey twins in turn.
“Oh, yes, ma’am,” answered Nan politely.
Mrs. Martin could tell that the children were just a little bit afraid of her. It really was no wonder, for she had acted very strangely in leaving Baby Jenny in a basket on the Bobbseys’ steps during a storm and later stealing the baby away again. Of course afterward, as you know if you have read the book, everything came out all right.
“I am all right now,” the old lady said, for she guessed that Bert and the others were looking at her curiously. “You needn’t be afraid of me, my dears. I am not going to take this darling baby away any more. I just came to pay a little visit to her. But I didn’t expect to find the Bobbsey twins here.”
“We’re glad to see you,” was Bert’s polite remark.
“And we’re glad you’re better,” added Nan.
“But you look sort of—sort of different,” said Freddie.
“She looks like—now—like the Grandmother in Red Riding Hood,” Flossie said, after a little hesitation over the matter.