"My girls are anxious to see you again," the lumber merchant went on.
"They have missed you very much. And I want to say I am sorry I was so
cross and severe with you," he added. "I was provoked that you should
be cheated, but I realize now that it was not your fault. That man
made it his business to fool boys with his bad bills. Will you come
back, Frank? I promise to treat you better from now on."
"Yes, he will go back," said Uncle Daniel, "but he hasn't had much fun
this summer. Suppose you leave him here at Meadow Brook for a while. I
think it will do Frank good."
"All right," agreed Mr. Mason. "But my wife and the girls are anxious
to have him home. But let him stay here for a time."
And so happy days began for Frank Kennedy, and the happy days
continued for the Bobbsey twins, and their friends and relatives. The
long summer days on the farm were filled with good times.
One morning Freddie and Flossie went out in the kitchen where Dinah
and Martha were busy making sandwiches and wrapping cakes in waxed
paper.
"Are we going to have company?" asked Flossie.
"We's gwine t' hab annuder picnic!" exclaimed Dinah. "A big one!"
"Oh, goodie!" cried Freddie. "And I'm going to take my fire engine to
the woods and squirt water on snakes."
"Well, don't pump any fire engine watah on ole Dinah, honey lamb!"
begged the fat cook.
"Oh, a picnic! What fun!" cried Nan, when she heard about it.
And such good times as the Bobbseys had when they went to the cool
green woods, with well-filled lunch baskets! Mr. Mack, the store
keeper, was so grateful to Frank, for having saved the twenty dollars
for him, that he sent a large bag of cakes and oranges for the
woodland-dinner.
Frank went with the others, and a number of country boys and girls
were invited. They played games and sat about in the long grass under
shady trees to eat the good things Dinah and Martha had cooked.
Freddie played with his fire engine to his heart's content, and,
though he managed to get pretty wet himself, no one else suffered
much.
And, a few days before Frank was to go back to his guardian Mr.
Bobbsey gave the children another treat. They were taken to a nice
moving picture show at Rosedale where the circus had been.
After some funny reels had been shown, there was flashed on the screen
a schoolhouse, with the children clustering about the teacher.
"Oh, it's us! It's us!" whispered Nan. "Those are our pictures!"
"So they are!" agreed Bert. And they were. Views of the sham battle
the children had witnessed were thrown on the screen, and then came a
scene showing Freddie. No sooner had he noticed himself in the
pictures than he cried out loud:
"Oh, that's me! Now watch me fall in the brook!"
And he did, amid the laughter of the audience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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