Then we trundled Gipsey about a little in a wicker wagon we found, and put him in the patent baby-jumper to take an airing; and at last, when we had teased him till he barked like one of the toy poodles on the shelves, we took ourselves off, and sent the poor child on her way rejoicing.
But it was getting late, and time to trot home, before His Majesty the Sun roasted us all like so many eggs. Our street is always shady and cool, it seems to me, and we were glad enough to find ourselves once more on its pavement. I invited Nelly and Jimmy and Gipsey all to take lunch with me, and didn't we have fun! We ate the pork pie, and stuffed Gipsey with lumps of sugar, and discovered a pot of raspberry jam in the closet, and ornamented ourselves with red rims round our mouths, digging it out; and sliced, and buttered, and disposed of almost half a loaf of French bread, and hardly stopped laughing, chattering, and barking a single minute.
And then, after all this was over, my little neighbors bid me good-by, and Gipsey barked at me and poked his cold nose into my hand, which meant "Good-by and thank you," all the same, and the three went home as merry as crickets.
I could not see much of my little neighbors before they went away the next Tuesday, but I was invited to take tea at No. 9 the very last evening; and then, what should I find out but that Nelly's mamma was the daughter of an old friend of mine whom I had not seen for years! So we felt quite like relations right away. Just as tea was over, lo and behold! there was a tremendous hullaballoo on the back piazza, and when we poked our heads out of the window to see what the matter was, there was Gipsey high and dry on the back of Miss Bluejay's fat poodle—having squeezed through the railing which separated the two piazzas—with the squirrel, which had come to the rescue of his friend, hanging on to his tail! and all three setting up a squeal of remonstrance. Gipsey's plight was so extremely well deserved, that we wouldn't go to his rescue; but at last, with a tremendous twist, he snatched away his cork-screw tail, and ran to hide himself and his injured feelings under the sofa in the front room. How we laughed at him! and how Nelly tried to make him come out and be lump-sugared into good humor, but he wouldn't; so, to make up, we coaxed the fat poodle, which had been staring in at the performance and sniffing satisfaction, to sit up and beg for us until we gave him the lump of sugar. Then Mrs. Lawson sat down to the piano, and began playing a funny little hornpipe tune that sounded just like a banjo; and, to our astonishment, the fat poodle developed another accomplishment; for, getting on his hind legs, he gravely hopped up and down on the piazza, keeping time to the music, until we nearly died of laughter.
You may fancy, after all these comical doings, that we managed to spend a merry evening, and when I at last bid my neighbors good night, it was no longer with the feeling that I was a lonely old bachelor.
I did find the street pretty lonely though, after they had gone, next day, with two great big trunks strapped on behind the carriage, a middling sized trunk hoisted up in front, and several small carpet bags, and tiny tawny bundles and baskets in every place where room could be found. I fancy Gipsey was in one of the baskets, by the way it bounced and wriggled about in Neighbor Nelly's lap; but I don't know; I only saw it from my window, whence I waved an adieu to them as they rolled away.
A few days after they had gone, I thought I would amuse myself, in their absence, by trying to find out if any of the other neighbors knew anything about my neighbor, Nelly. I succeeded in learning what two of them knew, and they shall tell it for themselves in the stories that follow, and which I have written out. And now, if any other dear little children have been pleased with me, in what I have told of my walks and talks with Neighbor Nelly, just let them come to No. 10, and meet the hearty greeting and loving welcome of the
Old Bachelor!