“Why, the Bramble Bush Man, of course. I’m to take part in his show.”
Tommy gave a whistle of surprise but Muffs did not even hear what Mary was saying. She was busy looking at the stage. There everything was, just the way she had seen it in the Bramble Bush Man’s queer little house that day they came in through the window. There was the long table with many strange things piled upon it. There was the plate and the ball and hoops and rings and giant playing cards in a pile. Even the vase was there and it looked as if it had never been broken. But the flags and ribbons were not to be seen. Neither was the cage with the rabbit in it.
“I wonder where Bunny Bright Eyes is,” Muffs said aloud. “I wouldn’t like it if he wasn’t in the show.”
“Mary’s in it,” said Tommy reassuringly.
“Is she? Then why isn’t she on the stage?”
“I’m supposed to go up when he calls me. It’s near the end of the show. I disappear.”
“You—what?”
“I disappear,” Mary repeated calmly. “The Bramble Bush Man makes me disappear.”
“I don’t believe that,” declared Tommy. “Even a wondrous wise man couldn’t make a girl disappear.”
