"Mother, mother, see, see!" cried Ruth, dragging Jinks by the sleeve.
"Oh," gasped little Betty, "see our magazine!"
"It's perfectly lovely, Mrs. Talmage!" cried Dot.
The older boys were more subdued when they saw the stranger.
Mrs. Talmage introduced the gentleman, Mr. Richards, one of the New York advertising solicitors for the Philadelphia agency. He smiled in a condescending way when Don asked, "Want to see our magazine?"
"Yes, indeed! It is such an unusual thing to find such dear little children interested in such a way," replied Mr. Richards, looking about at the boys and girls.
Don looked at Dot with a glance that said as plain as day, "Pooh! he's trying to pat us on the back!"
And Dot said to the visitor: "Don't think that we like to be fussed over just because we are working!"
The rest of the publishing company looked uncomfortable at the very evident tendency to humor them on account of their work.
The fact was, that the man couldn't understand why his firm (such a sensible lot of business men) should send him away from his important work in New York to call upon some wealthy ladies and a number of children, to talk about advertising pages in a toy magazine.
The two copies of the completed magazine had been given to Aunt Selina and Mrs. Talmage and they expressed such satisfaction at the appearance of the work that the man turned his attention to Mrs. Talmage. She handed him her copy.
When Mr. Richards saw the magazine, he was surprised out of his usual self-possession and exclaimed,
"Blue Birds and Bobolinks," replied Ned, with head tilted on one side the better to see the precious book the man held.
"But this is first-class work!" exclaimed the visitor.
"Sure! did you think we were going to turn out anything else?" asked Jinks, insulted.
"Oh, of course not, but it takes experienced hands to do anything as good as this," continued Mr. Richards, turning the pages slowly and examining each one carefully.
"Well, Uncle Ben knew the kind of workers we were when he trusted us with his pet hobby!" declared Ned, proudly.
Mr. Richards looked rather helpless, so Mrs. Talmage explained who "Uncle Ben" was and what part he had taken in the enterprise.
Light gradually began to break in upon the young man's brain as he heard the story of the magazine. Suddenly he sat up as if electrified with a new idea. He looked about at the children, the house, lawns, and ladies; finally he took his return railroad ticket from his pocket and noted the name printed on the card--Oakdale.