“But that wouldn’t be fair,” Muffs said and took one of her curls to wipe away the tears that just would come. “He’ll know anyway if he’s wondrous wise. I’ve got to fix it.”
She bent over the vase, trying to find the piece that had fallen out. Was it something like this, she wondered, that had sent her father to the ends of the earth? Muffs felt sure that wise men could get very, very angry.
Just then a door opened somewhere. The children didn’t stop to wonder where. They only heard the creak of its hinges, the rattle of the knob and somebody’s big footsteps coming.
“It’s the Bramble Bush Man!” cried Muffs in a panic.
Tommy stuffed the glasses in his pocket and Muffs grabbed the tall straw hat while Mary grabbed both their hands and pulled them through the window. They didn’t turn their heads to see the three frightened children in the Bramble Bush Man’s big mirror. Sliding, falling, picking themselves up as they ran, they never looked behind them until they stumbled into a road.
THE PUBLIC NOTICE
“Whew!” exclaimed Tommy, taking a breath. “Jiminey! Where are we?”
They all looked about. There they were standing in the middle of the big, dusty road right where it branched and went on up Lookoff Mountain. At their left was the schoolhouse with its shutters closed for the summer. At their right was the grange hall where pie socials and spelling bees were sometimes held. Beyond, the church raised its lofty steeple and behind them was the Millionaire’s House, big and imposing as ever. Nothing was different. The Bramble Bush Man’s queer little house was nowhere to be seen.