“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.”

“I’ve got another uncle, too, but we don’t know where he is,” went on Laddie.

“Is he lost at sea?” asked Freddie.  “If he is, I know how to find him.  Just ask Tommy Todd’s father.  He was shipwrecked, and me and Flossie found him in a snow storm.”

“You must tell me about that some time,” said Mrs. Whipple.  “But Laddie’s other uncle isn’t lost at sea, so far as we know.  It’s too sad a story to tell to children.  But Mr. Whipple has a brother, who is also a brother to Laddie’s mother, but this brother has long been lost.”