“Where are they?”

Freddie and Flossie walked slowly up the yard, away from the empty rabbit house, and stood at the foot of the back steps up which Tom Walker had hurried to ask the cook for something to eat for the “stray children.”  The little Bobbsey twins had not heard what the cook said to Tom after he had asked for something to eat.  But the cook repeated her question.

“What do you mean by stray cats and stray children?”

“There are the stray children out in the yard now,” answered Tom.  “They strayed away from some place, just as that dog I kept for a while once did.  There was a stray cat, too, but I don’t see it now.”

“Stray children, is it?” cried the jolly cook.  “Oh, look at the little darlin’s!” she exclaimed, as she saw the small Bobbsey twins standing out in the yard, waiting for Tom to come back.  Freddie and Flossie certainly did look very sweet and pretty with their new winter coats and caps on, though it was not very cold.  It was not as cold in Washington as in Lakeport.

“Do you think he’ll bring us anything to eat?” asked Freddie of Flossie, as they stood there waiting.

“I hope he does,” the little girl answered.  “I’m hungry.”

“So’m I!” Freddie admitted.  “I guess that cat was, too.  Where did he go?”

The cat answered himself, as though he knew he was being talked about.  He came out from under the back steps, rubbed up against Flossie’s fat, chubby legs with a mew and a purr, and then, seeing a place where the sun shone nice and warm on the steps, the cat curled up there and began to wash its face, using its paws as all cats do.

“Please, Sarah, can’t I have something to eat for the stray children, and maybe for the cat?” again asked Tom of the cook.

“Oh, I dunno!” she answered.  “Sure an’ you’re a bother!  Your mother’s out and I don’t know what to do.  These must be lost children, and, most likely, their father or mother’s lookin’ all over for ’em now.  But I’d better bring ’em in an’ keep ’em safe here, rather than let ’em wander about the streets.  How did they come into our yard, do you think, Tom?”

“They just walked in, after the stray cat.  They were on one of the big automobiles, and it stopped, so they got off.  I told ’em maybe their folks would be looking for them,” went on Tom, who was older than Flossie and Freddie.  “But they seem to think it’s all right.”

“Well, they’re lost, as sure as anything,” declared the cook.  “But it’s best to keep ’em here until their folks can come after ’em.  I’ll give you something for them to eat, Tom, and then you must look after ’em, as I’m too busy, getting ready for the party your mother is going to have this night.”

The kind cook soon got ready a plate of cookies and some glasses of milk for Flossie and Freddie.  And, as Tom began to feel hungry himself when he saw something being made ready for his new little friends, a place was set for him, also, on a side table in the dining room.