The next day Mrs. Bobbsey took Nan and Flossie shopping with her, while
Mr. Bobbsey took Bert and Freddie down town with him as the lumber
merchant had to see some men on business, and he knew the two boys could
wait in the different offices while he talked with his men friends.

"We will meet you in the Woolworth Building," said Mr. Bobbsey to his
wife. "You bring Flossie and Nan there, and after we go up in the high
tower we'll have lunch, and then go to the Bronx Park to see the
animals."

"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Freddie. "I want to see a bear--two
bears!"

"And I want to see ten--fifteen monkeys!" cried Flossie.

"Well, I hope you all get your wishes!" laughed Mother Bobbsey.

In one of the downtown offices where he had to stop to see a man, Mr.
Bobbsey was kept rather a long time talking business, and Freddie and
Bert got tired, or at least Freddie did. Bert was so interested in
looking out of the high window at the crowds in the streets below, that
he did not much care how long his father stayed. But Freddie wandered
about the outer office, looking at the typewriter which a pretty girl
was working so fast that, Bert said afterward, you could hardly see her
fingers fly over the keys. The girl was too busy to pay much attention
to what Freddie did until, all of a sudden, she looked down at the floor
and exclaimed:

"Oh, it's raining in here! Or else a water pipe has burst!" She pointed