little too
young to travel about the world by yourselves. Come; I will go back
with you.'

"It was very fortunate he did, for though Harry knew very well what
street he lived in, he did not know how to get to it; and it would have
been a sad thing for the dear little creatures if they had been lost.
But now the good policeman took Nannie in his arms, because she was
getting very tired, and Harry by the hand, and they all got into a
railroad car, and before long were at the house.

"But oh! what a distracted house! For when Nannie's mother had finished
the wonderful secret, and wanted to leave, the children were not to be
found. They searched the house; they examined the bath-tubs and
wash-tubs; they went out into the garden and down into the cellar, but
they were not to be found; and then the weeping, terrified mothers went
out into the street, and asked everybody they met, if they had seen the
children.

[Illustration]

"The waiter, who was just setting the table for dinner, rushed round the
corner, brandishing the carving-knife like a pistol, and frightened a
fashionable young gentleman out of all his five wits, for he thought it
was a crazy man, trying to kill him; and when he turned round he was
scared again, for there was the laundress, who had started out with a
wet shirt in her hands, which she was just starching; there _she_ was,
waving it about in the wind, like a flag of distress, and crying as hard
as she could.

[Illustration]

"Then the waiter dropped the carving-knife, and flew up the street,
while the fat cook, who had left a pudding half-made in the kitchen, ran
after him, dropping her pudding-stick, and wheezing dreadfully; and
away in the distance, they saw the chambermaid, with the broomstick in
her hand, and her hair all about her ears. She looked so like a witch,
from grief and fright, that as she disappeared, the people looking after
her were sure she had mounted the broomstick the very next moment, and
had flown over the tops of the houses.

"Dear me! what a terrible time it was! But you see they all loved Harry
so much, that they were almost crazy, and that made them cut up all
these didoes.

"All came back lamenting, for no children had been found; and the
distressed mothers were just writing a note to send to the
police-office, to order the whole city to be searched, when--a quick
ring at the bell--Could it be? Out they all rushed, mothers, cook,
waiter, chambermaid, laundress, the