"Well, little ones, what can I do for you?" asked one of the tall men in
the store, as Flossie and Freddie strolled in. "Are you with your
parents?"

"No, sir, we're all alone," spoke up Freddie. "We were lost on an express
train, but we're waiting for my father and mother and Bert and Nan. But a
monkey chewed up Flossie's hat and I want a new one for her. You sell
hats, don't you?"




CHAPTER X

LOST UNDERGROUND


Flossie and Freddie looked up at the tall man, who smiled kindly down at
them. He seemed to be laughing at something, though whether it was
Flossie's flaxen hair, now rather tangled because the monkey had pulled
off her hat, or because Freddie looked so funny asking his question, the
children could not tell.

"So you want a hat for the little girl?" asked the floorwalker, as the man
was called. He walked up and down in the store to see that the clerks
waited properly on the customers, and he told strangers where to go.

"Flossie wants a hat," went on Freddie. "The monkey ate the cherries off
hers."