But the junk man was not in sight. With his wagon filled with rags and bundles of newspapers, with the Sawdust Doll all wrapped up in pieces of cloth in one of his bags, the junk man was far away. All day long the junk man drove through different streets buying odds and ends, and, all this while, he never knew he had the Sawdust Doll. And poor Dorothy was crying her eyes out for her pet. She had other dolls, but she wanted, most of all, to have her birthday present back again. At night the junk man drove to his shop, where he kept many piles of rags, bottles, old automobile tires and different things that he sold to other men. After supper the bag, in which was the Sawdust Doll, was brought from the wagon into the junk shop, and emptied out on the floor. “Want to help me sort the rags, Tinka?” called the junk man to his little girl. “Oh, yes, I love to sort the rags,” Tinka answered. She was about as old as Dorothy, but she did not live in such a nice house. “I will sort the rags,” said Tinka. “If I find a pretty one, may I have a piece for a hair-ribbon?” “Yes,” answered her father, and he and Tinka began sorting over the rags to pick out the silk and woolen ones from the linen and cotton. Suddenly Tinka uttered a cry. “Oh, look what I’ve found!” she exclaimed. “A doll! A real doll! Oh, Papa! I have found a doll and she’s new! A doll with a pink dress!” And Tinka held up the Sawdust Doll! CHAPTER IX A HAPPY VISIT The junk man dropped a bundle of rags he was sorting and came around to the side of the table where Tinka stood with the Sawdust Doll in her arms. The little girl was crooning to the Doll a lullaby that was sung in ancient times by an ancient people. “Let me see the Sawdust Doll, Tinka!” said the junk man. “Oh, but, Papa, she is asleep, now,” said Tinka softly. “I will not wake her up,” and the junk man smiled at his little daughter. “I will be careful not to wake her up.” Then Tinka handed her father the Sawdust Doll. The junk man turned her over and over in his hands, which were not very clean. Junk men cannot keep their hands clean when they work any more than the coal man can. “Dear me!” thought the Sawdust Doll as she felt herself being turned over and over in the grimy hands of the junk man. “I hope he doesn’t soil my rose-colored silk dress any more than it is. But then I am going to have a new gingham one, anyhow. Oh, no! How can I have the new gingham dress if I stay here in this junk shop?” thought the Sawdust Doll. You see, though Tinka made believe the Sawdust Doll was asleep, Dorothy’s pet was really awake, and knew what was going on. Though, of course, the Sawdust Doll would not move or speak as long as Tinka and her father were looking on. “Yes,” said the junk man slowly, “this is almost new. And yet she was in a bag of rags. There must be some mistake.”