“He could too. He made his house disappear, didn’t he?”
“Will you come back?” Muffs questioned anxiously.
“Of course I’ll come back and when it’s over I’ll tell you how I did it.”
“Will you tell us how the house disappeared?” asked Tommy.
“I can’t,” said Mary, “because I don’t know.”
More and more people came in. All the chairs were filled and the doorway, too, was filled with people who had come to see the Bramble Bush Man’s big show. Tommy had the magic glasses to his eyes and was looking over the crowd.
“I wonder where Mother is,” Muffs said.
“Maybe she’s back there with Mom minding Ellen,” Tommy suggested. “Maybe she’s afraid to come too close to a wondrous wise man.”
“I guess she’d be afraid to disappear like I’m going to do,” said Mary importantly.
Muffs was thinking very hard. The Bramble Bush Man must be a rather terrible person if he could make things disappear whenever he felt like it. Even his house! She looked again at the stage, at the long table and the big bowls and rings and playing cards upon it. She looked at the vase that was whole again and shivered.