Muffs didn’t see very well because she was too sleepy. Besides, the lantern Tommy was holding blinded her and she couldn’t quite get over the feeling that it was really a fire. Mary, who had somehow managed to creep into bed without disturbing Muffs, was now asleep herself and even Tommy’s Shaking wouldn’t rouse her.
“Wake up, Mary! Come on, Muffs!” Tommy was calling in an excited voice. “We could fix it up now and get back before anyone missed us in the morning.”
Mary turned over in the bed and didn’t answer.
“Take that light out of my eyes,” said Muffs. “I was having such a nice dream about the cars when you woke me up. My mother sold some of her pictures and we were spending the money for hats and dresses and dolls—and—carriages——”
“But Muffs! We’ve got to fix up the public notice,” cried Tommy. “We’ve got to put in about the rabbit too or it wouldn’t be fair.”
“He’s asleep—in an A-coop. What’s an A-coop, Tommy?”
But Muffs went back to sleep while he was telling her and didn’t know the answer until morning. Mrs. Tyler’s voice calling Tommy sounded dimly through her dreams but at first she thought it was only her mother talking to someone in the studio. She reached out to touch the green and gold screen but her hand found only empty air.
“Someone must have taken the screen away,” she thought sleepily. The room looked big and empty without it. Her heart felt empty too when she heard the voice again and knew it was not her mother at all. It was Mrs. Tyler and she kept calling:
“Tom-mee! Tom-mee!”
An echo came back from the big barn door and soon Muffs and Mary were both wide awake. Mary’s clothes were ready and she dressed herself quickly but Muffs had to hunt for hers in the suitcase Donald must have brought in while she was sleeping. She found a pair of green socks and a blue linen dress that was a little wrinkled from being packed so long. Her clothes weren’t like that at home. They were kept on hangers in neat little rows and her mother always told her what to put on. Mrs. Tyler didn’t tell her. She just kept on calling Tommy.