“Oh, I don’t believe they will,” said Nell, “This is a quiet street, and this shop doesn’t do much business.  We only come here once in a while because some things are cheaper.  We never bought any second-hand things.”

“There’s nobody coming down the street now,” observed Bert, who was beginning to agree with Billy in the matter.  “If we see any one going in that we think will buy the dishes, we can hurry in ahead of ’em.  We’ll stand here and talk a minute.  What is it you want to say, Billy?”

“Well, it’s like this,” went on the Washington boy.  “I know these second-hand men.  If they think you want a thing they’ll charge you a lot of money for it.  But if they think you don’t want it very much they will let you have it cheap.  I know, ’cause a fellow and I wanted to get a baseball glove in here one day.  It was a second-hand one, but good.  The fellow I was with knew just how to do it.

“He went in, and asked the price of a lot of things, and said they were all too high.  Then he asked the price of the glove, just as if he didn’t care much whether he got it or not.  The man said it was a dollar, but when Jimmie—­the boy who was with me—­said he only had eighty cents, the man let him have the glove for that.”

“Oh, I see what you mean!” cried Nan.  “You mean we must try to get a bargain.”

“Yes,” said Billy.  “Otherwise, if you go in and want to buy those dishes first thing, the man may want five dollars for ’em.”

“Oh, we haven’t that much money!” cried Nan, much surprised.

“That’s why I say we must go slow,” said Billy.  “Now you leave this to me and Bert.”

“I think it would be a good idea,” declared Nell.

“All right!  I will,” agreed Nan.  “But, oh, I do hope we can get those dishes for Miss Pompret.”

“And I hope we can get the reward of a hundred dollars,” murmured Bert.

“I only hope they’re the right dishes,” said Billy.

“Oh, I’m sure they are,” declared Nan.  They have the blue lion on and everything.  And if they have the letters ‘J.  W.’ on, then we’ll know for sure.  Let’s go in and see.”

“We’ve got to go slow,” declared Billy.  “Mustn’t be too fast.  Let Bert and me go ahead.”

“I want to come in, too!” declared Freddie.  “I want to buy a whistle.  Do they have whistles in here?”

“I guess so,” answered Bert.  “It will be a good thing to go in and ask for, anyhow.”

“Sort of excuse for going in,” suggested Nell.

“Do they have ice cream cones?” asked Flossie.  “I want something to eat.”

“I don’t believe they have anything to eat in here,” said Nell.  “But we can get that later, Flossie.  Now you and Freddie be nice when we go in, and after we come out I’ll get you some ice cream.”

“I’ll be good!” promised Flossie.

“So’ll I,” agreed Freddie.  “But I want a whistle, and if they have a little fire engine I want that.”