CHAPTER XIX
"OH LOOK!"
FOR a time the actors on the stage, taking part in the fairy play, hadto stop. They could not go on because the Chinese children were cryingso hard. And really it was a strange thing to have happen.
Then Cinderella herself--or at least the young lady who was playing thatpart--seeing what the matter was, stepped to the front of the stage andsaid to the Chinese minister:
"Tell your little children there will be no more shooting. They will notbe frightened again. I am sorry it happened," and she bowed and kissedher hand to the older boys and girls, in the box. They were notfrightened as were the smaller ones.
"It is all right. They will be themselves again soon. I thank you," saidthe Chinese minister, rising and bowing to the actress. He spoke inEnglish, but with a queer little twist to his words, just as we wouldspeak queerly if we tried to talk Chinese.
Then the sobbing of the frightened children gradually ceased, and theplay went on. But the Bobbsey twins were almost as much interested inthe queer, beautifully dressed foreign children in the box as they werein the play itself. Indeed Flossie and Freddie looked from the stage tothe box and from the box back to the stage again so often that theirmother said they would have stiff necks. However, they didn't have,which only goes to show that children's necks can stand a great deal oftwisting and turning without getting tired.
So the play went on, and very pretty it was. Cinderella tried on theglass slipper. It fitted perfectly, and everything came out all right,and she and the prince lived happily forever after.
"Is that all?" asked Flossie, when the curtain went down for the lasttime, and the people began getting up to leave.
"That's all," her mother told her. "Didn't you like it?"
"Oh, yes, it was nice," said Flossie. "But they didn't have as much redfire as I wanted to see."
"And they didn't have a single fire engine!" sighed Freddie.
"Too bad!" laughed Bert. "We'll look for a show for you, Freddie, wherethey have nothing but fire engines!"
But, after all, even without quite enough red fire and not a fire engineon the stage, the play was enjoyed by the Bobbsey twins and their littlefriends, the Martin children.
"Where are we going?' asked Nan, as they came out of the theater and Mr.Bobbsey led the children toward a big automobile that stood at the curb.
"We are going to the Martins for the evening," answered Daddy Bobbsey."Mr. Martin sent down his auto for us, so we don't have to go out in thestorm."
"It was very kind of him," added Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I like the snow!" cried Freddie. "I'm going to make a snow fort,to-morrow, and a snow man."
"And I'm going to make a little snow doll!" declared Flossie.
"Wait until you see if there's snow enough," advised Bert.
"Will there be much, do you think?" Nan inquired of Nell.
"Well, we don't often have a very heavy fall of snow here," was theanswer, "though it sometimes happens. It's snowing hard now."
And so it was, And the weather was getting cold, too, almost as cold asback in Lakeport. But the Bobbseys were used to it. Their eyes wereshining and their cheeks were red. Flossie and Freddie tried to catchthe drifting snow flakes dancing down from the sky. But there was quitea crowd on the side-walk coming out of the theater, and every one seemedto get in the way of the little Bobbsey twins, so they did not have muchluck catching the white crystals.
Into the big, closed auto they piled, and soon they were rolling alongthe snow-covered streets of Washington toward the home of Nell and BillyMartin. Mr. and Mrs. Martin would be waiting at their house to greet theBobbseys. It was dark, now, and the lighted lamps made the snow sparklelike a million diamonds.
"Oh, it's just lovely!" sighed Nan, as she leaned back against thecushions and peered from the window.
"It looks just like a fairy play out there," and Nell pointed to theglittering snow.
"It looks like--like one of those funny Christmas cards that twinkleso!" declared Freddie.
"Oh, it will soon be Christmas, won't it?" exclaimed Flossie, who sat onher mother's lap. "I wonder what I'll get!"
"I want something, too!" cried Freddie. "Oh, won't it be nice atChristmas!"
"Yes, it will soon be here--much sooner than we think," said Mr.Bobbsey.
"Shall we go home for Christmas?" Nan asked.
"Oh, yes," her father told her. "My business here is nearly finished,and we'll go back to Lakeport next week."
"Aren't we going to buy anything to take home--souvenirs I mean?" addedBert. "I promised to bring Sam something."
"And I want to take Dinah a present!" declared Nan.
"Yes, we must do a little shopping for things like that," said Mrs.Bobbsey. "You children will have a chance next week."
And they talked of that, and the things they would buy, until theautomobile stopped at the Martin house, when they all went inside.
After supper, or dinner as it is more often called, the children had funplaying games and looking at picture books, while the older folk talkedamong themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Martin were quite interested in hearingof how the Chinese children cried when the fire cracker went off.
"I have never seen any of the ambassadors or the ministers from theOriental countries wear their native dress," said Mr. Martin. "But thereis no reason why they shouldn't."
"No," said Mr. Bobbsey, "there isn't. If we went to a foreign country wewould want to wear the clothes we had always worn at home, and wewouldn't like to be stared at for doing it, either."
The evening passed pleasantly, but at last Mrs. Bobbsey noticed thatFlossie and Freddie were getting sleepy, so she said they would have togo back to the hotel and to bed.
"And I hope the fire engines don't wake us up to-night," said Nan. "Iwant to sleep."
"I do, too," added her mother. Nothing happened that night, and in themorning there was enough snow on the ground for the making of a smallsnow man, at least, and as many snowballs as the children wanted tothrow at him. Flossie and Freddie were warmly dressed, and allowed toplay out in a little yard in front of the hotel. It was rather a treatfor Washington children to have as much snow as they now had, and manywere out enjoying it.
Flossie and Freddie played as they did at home, and Bert and Nan, withNell and Billy Martin, who came over, watched the smaller twins.
"Let's throw snowballs at a target," said Freddie presently. "I'm goingto play I'm a soldier and shoot the cannon."
"You haven't any target, Freddie Bobbsey," declared Flossie.
"Yes, I have, too!" answered her twin brother. "Just look here!"
Freddie had espied a small tin can standing in an areaway not far away.He ran to get this, and then set it up on a near-by iron railing.
"There's my target!" he exclaimed; and both he and Flossie began tothrow snowballs at it and were in high glee when the can tumbled over.
Thus the fun went on for some time.
After lunch Mrs. Bobbsey said:
"Now, children, if you wish, you may go out and buy some souvenirs. Aslong as Nell and Billy are here to go with you, I will not have to go,since they know their way about the streets near our hotel. I'm going togive you each a certain sum, and you may spend it in any way you likefor souvenirs to take home to Sam, Dinah and your other friends. Nowstart out and have a good time."
The snow had stopped and the sun was shining, which meant that the whitecovering would not last long. But it gave a touch of winter toWashington, and the children liked it.
Down the street went the six children, two by two, the four Bobbseytwins and Nell and Billy Martin. Flossie and Freddie walked together,then came Billy and Bert, while Nan walked with Nell.
"Here's a store where they have nice things," said Nell, as they stoppedin front of one, the windows of which held all sorts of light and prettyarticles, from fans and postcards to vases and pocket knives, some withtiny photographic views of Washington set in the handles.
"Let's go in there and buy som
ething," proposed Bert.
In they trooped, and you may well believe me when I say that the womanwho kept this store had a busy half-hour trying to wait on the fourBobbsey twins at once. Nell and Billy did not want to buy anything, butthe Bobbseys did.
At last, however, each one had bought something, and then Bert said:
"I know where to go next."
"Where?" asked Nan.
"Around the corner," her brother answered as they came out of thesouvenir shop. "There's a cheaper place there. I looked in the windowsyesterday and saw the prices marked. We haven't got much money left, andwe've got to go to a cheap place for the rest of our things."
"All right," agreed Nan, and Bert led the way. The other store, just ashe said, was only around the corner, and, as he had told his sister, thewindows were filled with many things, some of them marked at priceswhich were very low.
Suddenly, as Nan was peering in through the glass, she gave a startledcry, and, plucking Bert by the sleeve, exclaimed:
"Oh, look!"