CHAPTER XX
A GREAT BARGAIN
Bert Bobbsey turned to look at his sister Nan. She was staring atsomething in the jumble of articles in the second-hand shop window, andwhat she saw seemed to excite Nan.
"What is it? What's the matter?" asked Bert, as Nan, once more,exclaimed:
"Look! Oh, look!"
"Is it a fire?" eagerly asked Freddie, as he wiggled about to get abetter view of the window, since Bert and Nan stood so near it he couldnot see very well. "Is it a fire?"
"Oh, you and your fires!" laughed Nell, as she put her hands lovingly onhis shoulders. "Don't you ever think of anything else?"
"Oh, is it a fire?" asked Freddie again.
"No, there isn't any fire," answered Billy, laughing, as his sister Nellwas doing, at Freddie's funny ideas.
"But it's something!" insisted Flossie, who had, by this time, wiggledherself to a place beside Freddie, and so near the window that she couldflatten her little nose against it.
"What is it you see, Nan?" asked Bert. "If it's more souvenirs I don'tbelieve we can buy any. My money is 'most gone."
"Oh, but we must get these even if we have to go home for more money!"exclaimed Nan. "Look, Bert! Right near those old brass candlesticks. Seethat sugar bowl and pitcher?"
"I see 'em!" answered Bert.
"Don't you know whose they are?" rapidly whispered Nan. "Look at the waythey're painted? And see! On the bottom of the sugar bowl is a bluelion! I can't see the letters 'J. W.' but they must be there. Oh, Bert!don't you know what this means? Can't you see? Those are Miss Pompret'smissing dishes that she told us she'd give a hundred dollars to getback! And oh, Bert! we've got to go in there and buy that sugar bowl andcream pitcher, and we can take 'em back to Miss Pompret at Lakeport, andshe'll give us a hundred dollars, and--and--"
But Nan was so excited and out of breath that she could not say anotherword. She could just manage to hold Bert's sleeve and point at thewindow of the second-hand shop.
At last Bert "woke up," as he said afterward. His eyes opened wider, andhe stared with all his might at what Nan was pointing toward. There,surely enough, among some old candlesticks, a pair of andirons, abellows for blowing a fire, was a sugar bowl and cream pitcher. And itneeded only a glance to make Bert feel sure that the two pieces of chinawere decorated just as were Miss Pompret's.
But there was something more than this. The sugar bowl was turned overso that the bottom part was toward the street. And on the bottom,plainly to be seen, was a circle of gold. Inside the circle was apicture of some animal in blue, and Nan, at least, felt sure it was ablue lion. As she had said, no letters could be seen, but they might bethere.
"Don't you see, Bert?" asked Nan, as her brother waited several secondsbefore speaking. "Don't you see that those are Miss Pompret's dishes?"
"Well," admitted the Bobbsey lad, "they look like 'em."
"They surely are!" declared Nan. "Oh, I'm so excited! Let's go right inand buy them. Then we'll get a hundred dollars!"
She darted away from Bert's side, and was about to move toward the doorof the shop when Billy caught her by the coat sleeve.
"Wait a minute, Nan," he said.
"What for?" she asked.
"Until Bert and I talk this over," went on Billy, who, though he was notmuch older than Nan, seemed to be, perhaps because he had lived in alarge city all his life. "You don't want to rush in and buy those dishesso quick."
"Why not?" demanded Nan. "If I don't get 'em somebody else may, and youknow Miss Pompret offered a reward of a hundred dollars. These are thetwo pieces missing from her set. Her set is 'broken' as she calls it, ifshe doesn't have this sugar bowl and pitcher."
"Yes, I remember your telling me about Miss Pompret's reward," saidBilly. "But you'd better go a bit slow."
"Maybe somebody else'll buy 'em!" exclaimed Nan.
"Oh, I don't believe they will," said Nell, "This is a quiet street, andthis shop doesn't do much business. We only come here once in a whilebecause some things are cheaper. We never bought any second-handthings."
"There's nobody coming down the street now," observed Bert, who wasbeginning to agree with Billy in the matter. "If we see any one going inthat we think will buy the dishes, we can hurry in ahead of 'em. We'llstand 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 thesesecond-hand men. If they think you want a thing they'll charge you a lotof money for it. But if they think you don't want it very much they willlet you have it cheap. I know, 'cause a fellow and I wanted to get abaseball glove in here one day. It was a second-hand one, but good. Thefellow I was with knew just how to do it.
"He went in, and asked the price of a lot of things, and said they wereall too high. Then he asked the price of the glove, just as if he didn'tcare much whether he got it or not. The man said it was a dollar, butwhen Jimmie--the boy who was with me--said he only had eighty cents, theman let him have the glove for that."
"Oh, I see what you mean!" cried Nan. "You mean we must try to get abargain."
"Yes," said Billy. "Otherwise, if you go in and want to buy those dishesfirst 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 tome 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 thosedishes 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 andeverything. And if they have the letters 'J. W.' on, then we'll know forsure. Let's go in and see."
"We've got to go slow," declared Billy. "Mustn't be too fast. Let Bertand me go ahead."
"I want to come in, too!" declared Freddie. "I want to buy a whistle. Dothey have whistles in here?"
"I guess so," answered Bert. "It will be a good thing to go in and askfor, anyhow."
"Sort of excuse for going in," suggested Nell.
"Do they have ice cream cones?" asked Flossie. "I want something toeat."
"I don't believe they have anything to eat in here," said Nell. "But wecan 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 alittle fire engine I want that."
"You don't want much!" laughed Bert.
"Well, let's go in!" suggested Billy.
So, with the two boys in the lead, followed by Nell and Nan and Flossieand Freddie, the children entered the second-hand and souvenir store.
A bell on the door rang with a loud clang as Billy opened it, and whenthe children stepped inside the shop an old man with a black, curlybeard and long black hair that seemed as if it had never been combed,came out from a back room.
"What you want to buy, little childrens?" he asked. "I got a lot of nicethings, cheap! Very cheap!"
"Well, if you've got something very cheap we might buy it," answeredBilly, with as nearly a grown-up manner as he could assume. "But wehaven't much money."
"Ha! Ha! That's what they all say!" exclaimed the old man. "Buteverybody has more money that what I has. I'm very poor. I don't hardlymake a living I sell things so cheap. What you want to buy, littlechildrens?"
"Have you got any whistles or fire engines?" burst out Freddie, unableto wait any longer.
"Whistles? Lots of 'em!" exclaimed the man. "Here is a finest whistlewhat ever was. Listen to it!"
He took one from the show case and blew into it. Not a sound came out.
"Ach! I guess that one is damaged," he said. "But I got other ones.Here! Listen to this!"
The next one blew loud and shrill.
"I want
that!" cried Freddie.
"Ten cents!" said the man, holding it out to the little boy.
"What?" cried Billy. "Why, I can buy those whistles for five centsanywhere in Washington! Ten cents? I guess not!"
"Oh, well, take it for seven cents then," said the man. "What I care ifI die poor. Take it for seven cents!"
"No, sir!" exclaimed Billy firmly. "Five cents is all they cost, andthis is an old one."
"Oh, well. Take it for five then. What I care if you cheats a poor oldman? Such a boy as you are! Take it for five cents!" and he handed thewhistle to Freddie. But before he could take it Nan said, gently:
"I think it would be better for him to have a fresh one from the box.That is all dusty."
The truth was she did not want Freddie to take a whistle the old man hadblown into.
"Oh, well, I gives you a fresh one," he said, and he took a new andshining one from the box. Freddie blew it, making a shrill sound.
"What else you want to buy, little childrens?" asked the old man. "Isell everythings cheap--everythings!"
"Ask how much the dishes are," whispered Nan to Billy. But he shook hishead, and looked around the shop. He looked everywhere but at the windowwhere the dishes were.
"Any sailboats?" asked Billy, as if that was all he had come in toinquire about.
"Sailboats?" cried the man. "Sailboats?"
"Yes, toy sailboats."
"No, I haven't got any of them, but I got a nice football. Here I showyou!"
"I don't want a football. You can't play football when the snow is onthe ground!" exclaimed Bert, as the man started toward some shelves onthe other side of the room.
"I want a doll," whispered Flossie. "Just a little doll."
"A doll!" exclaimed the man. "Sure I gots a fine lot of dolls. See!"
Quickly he held out a large one with very blue eyes and hair just likeFlossie's.
"Only a dollar seventy-five," he said. "Very cheap!"
"Oh, that's too much!" exclaimed Nan. "We haven't that much money. Shewants only a little ten-cent doll."
"Oh, well, I have them kinds too!" said the man, in disappointed tones."Here you are!"
He held out one that did not appear to be very nice.
"You can get those for five cents in the other stores," whispered Nell.
"Better take it," said her brother. "Then I'll ask about the dishes."
"Yes, we'll take it," agreed Nan.
So Flossie was given her doll, and, even though it might have been onlyfive cents somewhere else, she liked it just as well.
"What else you wants to buy, childrens?" asked the old man. "I got lotsmore things so cheap--oh, so very cheap!"
Billy and Bert strolled over to the window. They looked down in. Nancrowded to their side. She felt sure, now, that the two pieces of chinawere the very ones Miss Pompret wanted. If they could only get thatsugar bowl and pitcher!
"I wish you had a sailboat!" murmured Billy, as if that was all he caredabout. Then, turning to Nan he asked: "Would you like that sugar bowland pitcher?"
"Oh, yes, I think I would!" she exclaimed, trying not to make her voiceseem too eager.
"You might have a play party with them," Billy went on. If Miss Pompretcould have heard him then I feel sure she would have fainted, or hadwhat Dinah would call "a cat in a fit."
"You want those dishes?" asked the old man, as he reached over andlifted the sugar bowl and pitcher from his window. "Ach! them is a greatbargain. I let you have them cheap. And see, not a chip or a crack on'em. Good china, too! Very valuable, but they is all I have left. Isells 'em cheap."
Bert took the sugar bowl and looked closely at it, while Nan took thepitcher. The children felt sure these were the same pieces that wouldfill out Miss Pompret's set.
"Look at the mark on the bottom," whispered Nan to Bert, as thestorekeeper hurried to the other side of the room to rescue a pile ofchairs which Freddie seemed bent on pulling down. "Is the blue lionthere?"
"Yes," answered Bert, "it is."
"And the letters 'J. W.'?"
"Yes," Bert replied. "But, somehow, it doesn't look like the one on MissPompret's plates."
"Oh, I'm sure it's the same one!" insisted Nan. "We've found the missingpieces, Bert, and we'll get--"
"Hush!" cautioned Billy, for the old man was coming back.
"You want to buy them?" he asked. "I sell cheap. It's a great bargain."
"Where did they come from?" asked Bert.
"Come from? How shoulds I know. Maybe I get 'em at a fire sale, or maybeall the other dishes in that set get broken, and these all what areleft. Somebody bring 'em in, and I buys 'em, or my wife she buys 'em.How can I tells so long ago?"
"Oh, well, maybe we might take 'em for the girls to have a play partywith their own set of dishes," went on Billy. "But I wish you had a toyship. How much for these dishes--this sugar bowl and pitcher?"
"How much? Oh, I let you have these very cheap. They is worth fivedollars--very rare china--very thin but hard to break. These is a goodbargain--a great bargain. You shall have them for--two dollars!"