So the children crept up to it, and examined it closely.  Yes, it was a green speckled frog, but what it was made of, and whether it was alive, and if it was not alive how it managed to hop and squeak—­these were the puzzles.

“Take hold of it, Milly,” said Mr. Norton, who had just come up from his work, and was standing laughing near the door.  “Turn it over on its legs again.”

“No, I’ll turn it,” cried Olly, making a dash, and turning it over in a great hurry, keeping his legs and feet well out of the way.  Hop! squeak! there it was off again, right down the room with the children after it, till it suddenly came up against a table leg, and once more turned over on its back and lay quite still.

“Oh, Aunt Emma, is it a toy?” asked Milly, who now felt brave enough to take it up and look at it.

“Well, Milly, I believe so—­a very lively one.  Bring it here, and I’ll tell you something about it.”

So the children brought it very cautiously, as if they were not quite sure what it would do next, and then Aunt Emma explained to them that she had once paid a visit to a shop in London where Japanese toys—­toys made in the country of Japan—­far away on the other side of the world—­were sold, and that there she found master froggy.

“And there never was such a toy as froggy for a wet day,” said Aunt Emma.  “I have tried him on all sorts of boys and girls, and he never fails.  He’s as good a cure for a cross face as a poultice is for a sore finger.  But, Milly, listen!  I declare there’s something else going on in my bag.  I really think, my dear bag, you might be quiet now that you have got rid of froggy!  What can all this chattering be about?  Sh! sh!” and Aunt Emma held up her finger at the children, while she held the bag up to her ear, and listened carefully.  Olly was almost beside himself with excitement, but Milly had got his little brown hands tight in hers for fear he should make a jump at the bag.  “Yes,” said Aunt Emma.  “It’s just as I thought.  The bag declares it’s not his fault at all, but that if I will give him such noisy creatures to carry I must take the consequences.  He says there’s a whole family now inside him, making such a noise he can hardly hear himself speak.  It’s enough, he says, to drive a respectable bag mad, and he must blow up if it goes on.  Dear me!  I must look into this.  Milly, come here!”

Milly came near, and Aunt Emma opened the bag solemnly.

“Now, Milly, I’ll hold it for fear it should take it into its poor head to blow up, and you put your hand in and see what you can find.”

So Milly put her hand in, feeling a good deal excited as to what might happen—­and what do you think she brought out?  A whole handful of the most delicious dolls:—­cardboard dolls of all sorts and kinds, like those in mother’s drawer at home; paper dolls, mamma dolls, little boy dolls and little girl dolls, baby dolls and nurse dolls; dolls in suits and dolls in frocks; dolls in hats