And very early the next morning, before Tinka was awake, the junk man drove off. And, on the seat beside him, wrapped in a paper, was the Sawdust Doll.
“I certainly am getting more than my share of rides,� thought the Sawdust Doll. “I wonder what is going to happen now!�
All the while the Sawdust Doll had been away on the junk-shop adventure, about which I have told you, poor Dorothy was almost heart-broken over the loss of her toy.
“Do you think I’ll ever get her back?� she asked over and over again.
“I hope you may get her back,� said Dorothy’s mother. But really Mother had very little hope.
“There are so many junk men, and they all seem to look alike,� she told Dorothy’s father. “I don’t believe Patrick will find the one to whom he sold the bag of rags with the Sawdust Doll in it.�
But Dorothy kept on hoping, and every time the bell rang she ran to the door, expecting it was her Doll come back. But night came, and the Sawdust Doll was still missing. Dorothy cried herself to sleep.
At last morning came, and Patrick, going out to sweep off a light snow that had fallen in the night, saw a junk wagon stopping in front of the house.
“Ha, there he is! There’s the man I sold the Sawdust Doll to!� cried the gardener. “There’s the junk man!�
The junk man got down off his seat and started up the path with something in his hand.