Down the street they raced to meet him, and taking hold of his hands,
one on either side, they led him toward the house.

Just then out of the side gate came Mandy, the jolly fat colored
washer-woman. She had a basket full of clothes on a small express
wagon.

"Oh, that reminds me!" exclaimed Mirabell's father. "I'll put these
handkerchiefs from my pocket in your basket of wash, Mandy! You can
take them home with you, wash them clean and iron them and bring them
back to me."

"'Deed an' dat's just what I can do!" exclaimed Mandy, smiling
broadly. "Put 'em right down yeah in mah basket!"

She turned back the sheet she had spread over the soiled clothes and
made a little place down in one corner for the Man to put his
handkerchiefs.

There was quite a bundle of them, all wadded together.

"There, you can tell Mother I didn't forget my handkerchiefs this
time," said Daddy to his two children. "You saw me put them in the
wash, didn't you?"

"Yes, Daddy, we did!" exclaimed Mirabell. "And, oh, you ought to see
what happened to my Lamb on Wheels to-day!"

"What happened?" asked Daddy, as he straightened up after having
stooped down to thrust the handkerchiefs into the basket.