brightening.

"Couldn't he have all dinner with us, and not just dessert?" suggested
Ted.

"Of course," his mother replied.

"Maybe Bob has eaten all he can," suggested Mr. Martin, folding the
letter and putting it in his pocket.

"Oh, no! I can eat a lot more!" quickly cried Bob. "You ought to see me
eat!"

"Well, we'll give you a chance," said Mr. Martin, and they all sat down
to the table.

The Curlytop children told Bob about the toboggan slide, which he had
not yet seen, as he lived several houses down the street and had had no
hand in building up the big pile of empty boxes.

"An' you ought to see me in the box!" cried Trouble, when he had a
chance to speak.

"Yes!" exclaimed Jan. "Oh, how he frightened us!"

While the children were thus talking Mr. and Mrs. Martin were conversing
in low tones. And once Ted heard his mother ask:

"What shall we do?"

"Something will have to be done," her husband answered. "We must find
some one to look after the children while we are away, for we shall
certainly have to go. I can't let this slip away from me."

"No, indeed!" agreed his wife, with a sigh. "And yet, with the
Christmas holidays coming on, it will be too bad to be away from the
children."

"Perhaps we may get back by Christmas," remarked her husband.

Ted did not listen to all this, but he heard words here and there, and
Christmas was one of them.

"How long to Christmas?" he asked.

"Quite a while," his mother replied. "It isn't Thanksgiving yet."

"How long before it will snow?" Janet wanted to know.

"That may happen any day now," replied her father, with a glance out of
the window. "It was getting colder as I came in. If you children go out
to play again you must wrap up warmly."

"We will!" promised Ted. "We're going to play toboggan again," he added.
"You can stay and play with us, Bob," he said.

"Thanks! That'll be fun. Oh, you have pie!" he added quickly, as he saw
Nora coming in with the dessert. "I like pie!" he frankly admitted.

"So do I," said Ted.

"An' I want two pieces!" declared Trouble.

"Hush, dear," cautioned his mother, in a low voice.

The meal over, the Curlytops prepared to go out in the yard again, to
have fun on their paraffine-greased sleds. Bob ran home after his,
promising to bring some candle ends, as those Mrs. Martin had found for
Ted had nearly all been used.

Such fun as the Curlytops and their playmates had in the yard after
dinner! Tom and Lola cam