“I must take the Doll back to-morrow,� said the junk man slowly. “I remember now where I bought the rags in which the Sawdust Doll must have fallen or been put by mistake. A gardener at a big house called me in and sold me the rags. He has sold me some before. In the morning, before I go anywhere else, I will take the Sawdust Doll back.�
“Oh, Papa!� exclaimed Tinka, and that was all she said, but she hugged the Sawdust Doll tightly in her arms. And when the junk man saw that he said:
“You may hold the Doll until it is time for you to go to bed, Tinka. You may hold her and sing to her. I will sort the rags myself.�
So Tinka sat down on a pile of old papers and rocked herself slowly to and fro, singing the old sweet lullaby to the Sawdust Doll. And the Sawdust Doll closed her eyes and seemed to go to sleep. But she was really awake, and she was thinking of many things.
“This junk shop is not as nice a place as the home I had with Dorothy,� thought the Sawdust Doll. “But Tinka loves me, and, after all, that is what counts. If ever I see my old friends in the store, of what an adventure I shall be able to tell them! Quite wonderful! How surprised the Bold Tin Soldier will be, and how the Calico Clown will laugh when he hears I was in a rag-bag!�
The junk man looked across the room and saw Tinka nodding sleepily. Gently he took the Sawdust Doll from her arms and laid the toy on a piece of paper up on the mantel. Then he carried Tinka to her own bed, and the little girl murmured in her sleep:
“Oh, what a beautiful Sawdust Doll!�
The junk man sighed.
So the Sawdust Doll was laid by herself on the mantel, and she thought many thoughts as the night passed. She could have moved around if she had wanted to, for no one was watching her now.
“But what is the use?� she asked herself. “There is no one here to play with—only bags of rags, bundles of paper, and such things as that. There is not even a broken Jack-in-the-Box for me to talk to. I shall sleep. In the morning I may have more adventures.�