“Somebody combing their hair! Well, they made noise enough about it, I must say!” exclaimed the old lady, and Grace and Nan had to stuff their handkerchiefs in their mouths to keep from laughing aloud.
Charlie and Grace went home about nine o’clock, and soon after that the older Bobbsey twins went to bed. Nan was feeling lonesome and wished for her mother’s return. However, she said nothing about it.
It was the next afternoon when Bert came hurrying home from school that more news awaited him and Nan.
“Where’s Sam?” Bert called to Dinah, as he hurried into the kitchen. “I want him to fix that runner on my sled. It came loose again. Where’s Sam, Dinah?”
Nan gave a quick look at the colored cook and guessed at once that something had happened.
“Is anything wrong, Dinah?” asked Nan, for she noticed a sad look on the kindly black face.
“Yes, honey lamb, dey is somethin’ wrong,” Dinah answered.
“Is it Uncle Rossiter?” asked Bert. “Or is it——”
He was afraid to ask about his father and mother.
“No, honey, ’tisn’t quite as bad as dat,” said Dinah. “But Sam, he done had to go away.”