“No, I suppose not,” agreed his father. “Well, since you saw her, and since others saw her, there is no doubt but that some old lady started to come into our yard. Whether she was the same one the children saw just before Baby May was left on our doorstep—that is another question.”
“I’m sure she was!” insisted Freddie. But of course he was a rather small boy, and he might have been mistaken.
“Then the next thing to think about is,” said Mr. Bobbsey, “what did the old woman want?”
“She wanted to take Baby May back!” said Nan promptly.
“I guess she’s sorry she gave her away,” added Bert.
“It’s hard to guess a reason for her strange acts,” observed Mr. Bobbsey. “If she wanted to get rid of the baby, why, now, does she want the child back?”
“I don’t want to lose Baby May,” said Mrs. Bobbsey softly. “I have grown to love her too much. But of course if her real father and mother wanted her I would be glad to give her up. But I don’t believe that old woman is her mother. Do you, Daddy?” she asked her husband.
“No,” he replied, “I don’t. I think there is some mystery here that we don’t understand. Though I can’t see why we haven’t heard some news in some of the papers about a missing or kidnapped baby. It certainly is very strange. But I have decided on one thing. We shall have no more scares such as Freddie had to-day.”
“How are you going to stop it?” asked Bert.
“We will go away for a time,” answered Mr. Bobbsey.
“Yes. On a little vacation trip,” went on Mr. Bobbsey. “We will go to the country where the old woman can’t find us.”
“Oh, to the country!” cried Nan, in delight.
“No, we can hardly go as far away as Meadow Brook,” said his father. “Though, no doubt, Uncle Daniel would be glad to see us. But I heard to-day of a nice boarding house in a small country town not far away, and we will go there for a vacation trip.”
“I guess so,” his father answered. “So, Mother, you had better get ready to go and take Baby May with you,” he added.
“If they have cows they must have horses,” was Freddie’s comment. “And if they have horses I’m going to go horseback riding.”
“Why must they have horses if they have cows?” Flossie wanted to know.
“Oh, ’cause they always do. When they take the milk to the station they have to carry the cans in a wagon, don’t they? And horses have to pull the wagon, don’t they?”