The last act of the show proved to be uproariously funny, and Freddie laughed and laughed until he was in danger of rolling on the floor again.
But he was held fast in his seat, and so that danger was averted.
"Say, Freddie, wouldn"t you like to be an actor man?" questioned Flossie, during a brief interval in the play.
"Sure, I"m going to be an actor man when I grow up," responded her brother quickly.
"But you"re going to be a fireman too, ain"t you?" queried his sister.
"Of course! I"m going to be an actor man and a fireman too," replied Freddie. "I can act in a theatre when there aren"t any fires to be put out."
"But what would you do if you were all dressed up as an actor man when you had to go out to ?" asked his sister.
"Oh, I"d just tell the people that I couldn"t act any more, and then I"d run right out and get my engine," answered Freddie simply.
"I guess I"d like to be an actor man too," put in Laddie. "I heard a big boy tell once that they earn bushels and bushels of money."
"Sure, they do," answered Freddie. "They make a thousand dollars a minute, I guess."
The play ended in a jolly lot of fun and music, and everybody was laughing when the final curtain went down. Fathers and mothers, who had come to bring their children, talked with one another, though they were strangers, and it was because of this that Mrs. Bobbsey, when Freddie and Laddie started to talk together again about the turtle ride, nodded and smiled at the elderly lady with whom Laddie had come to the theatre.
"My little boy seems to have taken quite a fancy to yours," said the twins" mother.
"Oh, he isn"t my boy, though I love him as though he were," said this lady. "Laddie is my sister-in-law"s boy, but she is in California. My husband and I are taking care of Laddie."
"And Freddie is coming to play store and steam cars and automobile and steam engine, with me, and--and----"
Laddie paused, trying to think of something else.
"Fireman," said Freddie. "We"re going to play fireman."
"Oh, yes," agreed Laddie. "I forgot about that. We"re going to play fireman."
"And I"m going to play with "em," added Flossie.
"Yes, she can come," said Laddie to his aunt. "I guess I"ll like her, though I don"t know much about playin" with girls," he added.
"Well, you seem to have it all settled," laughed his aunt. The Bobbseys and their new friends were standing in the theatre aisle, waiting for the crowds ahead of them to pa.s.s out.
"We"re strangers in New York," added Mrs. Bobbsey. "We are staying at the Parkview Hotel----"
"Why, that"s where my husband and I have been living for a number of years," said Freddie"s aunt. "My husband has a department store in Harlem, but he likes to live in this section. I like the hotel very much. Won"t you let me call to see you?"
Mrs. Bobbsey said she would be very glad to, and so the two ladies, having thus met, became friends, which Laddie and Freddie had done a little while before. Laddie"s aunt, whose name was Mrs. Whipple, said she would be glad to have Freddie and Flossie, as well as Nan and Bert, come in to play with Laddie.
"Though I am afraid your two larger twins are rather old for our small boy," said Mrs. Whipple, who had no children of her own.
"Yes, Nan and Bert are getting a little older," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But Freddie and Flossie will be delighted to have a new play-fellow."
So it was arranged that the next day the two small twins were to go to the Whipple apartment to play with Laddie, and Flossie and Freddie could hardly wait for that time to come.
"Oh, I think New York is just the _nicest_ place!" said Flossie, as she talked with Freddie about whether or not she might bring one doll with her when she went to Laddie"s hotel home.
"It"s dandy!" said Freddie. "Don"t you wish you were coming with us, Bert?"
"Pooh! Dad is going to take _me_ to see the airships go up down at Governor"s Island. They go up even in Winter, for the airmen want to get used to the cold, I guess," Bert said.
"Oh, I want to see the airships!" cried Freddie. "Can"t Daddy take me, too?" he asked his mother.
"Well, not this time, Freddie," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You and Flossie are going to have some fun with Laddie. I"ll take you later."
And with this the small twins had to be satisfied. So, while Nan and Bert were taken downtown, to get a glimpse of the airships flying over New York bay, which the bird-like craft did, in charge of army officers, who wished to learn to fly, even when there was snow on the ground, the small twins, taking some of their toys with them, went to the hotel rooms where Laddie d.i.c.kerson lived with his aunt.
"Did you bring the bugs that go around and around and around?" asked Flossie, as their mother knocked at Mrs. Whipple"s door.
"Yep," answered Freddie, "And I brought my toy fire engine, too. I wonder if she"ll let us squirt real water?" and he nodded toward the door that was not yet opened by Laddie"s aunt.
"You mustn"t do that unless you are told you may," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "If you squirt water you may spoil the wall paper."
"We"ll be careful," promised Freddie, and then Mrs. Whipple"s maid opened the door, and the twins went in to have a good time.
Laddie was very glad to see them, and he was much amused at the "go-around" bugs. He had a number of toys of his own, and when the children were tired of playing with them, and with those the Bobbsey twins had brought, they began to have a make-believe store.
"I"ve got some real store boxes and things," said Laddie, as he brought them out from his play-room.
"Oh, they _are_ real!" cried Flossie, as she saw them. "Isn"t they grand!
Where"d you get "em?"
"My Uncle Dan gave them to me," said Laddie. "He keeps a real store, and he sells hats and dresses and lots of things."
"What"s the name of his store?" asked Freddie.
"He"s Daniel Whipple," answered Laddie. "He is my mother"s brother--her name was Whipple, too, before she was married to my father. And my middle name is Whipple. I go to my Uncle Dan"s store lots of times; it"s an awful big one."
"I know it is!" cried Freddie. "I"ve been in it!"
"You have?" cried Laddie in surprise.
"When?" asked Flossie. "When were we in Laddie"s uncle"s store?"
"Don"t you "member?" went on Freddie. "It was the time the monkey chewed your hat, Flossie. We went into a store to buy a new one, and Daddy came there and found us and the man"s name was Whipple."
"That"s right--it was," agreed Flossie. "Oh, isn"t that _funny!_ And now we"re playing with _you_, Laddie."
"It is queer, I"m going to tell my aunt."
And when Laddie did, Mrs. Whipple remembered having heard her husband tell about the two little lost children who came into his department store after a street-piano monkey had spoiled a little girl"s hat.
"And to think _you_ two are those same children!" cried Mrs. Whipple. "It is quite remarkable, and New York such a big place as it is. I must tell my husband. He"s Laddie"s uncle, you know."