It wasn't hard to guess what Mary Jane had found; nothing but her precious
doll cart could have made her feel and look so happy. They all ran to the
end of the porch, looked over the edge, and there, sure enough, was the
birthday cart all tumbled down in a heap. Alice and Frances jumped down,
set it up straight and then, with Mrs. Merrill's help from above, lifted
it up to the porch just as the policeman and Mrs. Holden came out of the
house.
"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the officer. "Another cart?"
"No, it's mine!" cried Mary Jane happily. She ran her hands over the hood,
the body part and then the wheels to make sure nothing was broken.
Everything seemed all right, even the bag of taffy apples was still tucked
under the carriage robe that had come loose but had not fallen clear out.
"Yours?" asked the officer. "But I thought yours was lost!"
"It was," admitted Mary Jane, "but it isn't any more."
Mrs. Merrill hastened to explain that the cart had just then been
discovered on the ground at the end of the porch.
"I know what was the trouble," said Frances, "she didn't fasten the
brake--did you, Mary Jane?"
Mary Jane and the policeman bent down to inspect the brake. No, it wasn't
fastened.
"It wouldn't take much of a breeze to blow that cart off the porch, young
lady," said the officer, laughingly, "and so I suggest that if you ever
want to leave your doll in the cart, you'd better be sure the brake is
locked. You might have a smashed doll instead of a lost cart to report and
then things wouldn't be so easy to straighten out!" And with a pleasant
good-by he went on about his business.
Left alone the two mothers looked at each other and laughed--such an easy
ending to disappointment didn't often come! The four girls made a dive for
the bag of apples and settled themselves on the broad front steps for a
few minutes of real enjoyment. Mary Jane found that taffy apples were a
lot of fun to eat. The hard, slick surface was delicious to "lick" and
then, when a small part was licked thin, it was fun to bite right straight
through to the apple.
"If you think they're good now," said Frances, "you should taste them in
the fall when the fresh apples are in--yummy-um!"
"These are good enough for me," said Betty contentedly and she bit off a
big chunk of apple.
"Betty Holden!" exclaimed Frances with big sisterly chagrin, "you look
like a monkey with that apple all over your face!"
"Oh, fiddle!" replied Betty indifferently, "I like monkeys."
"Did you ever see one?" asked Mary Jane, "a really truly live one?"