"We can print the signs--or maybe the
post-office man will. Then when you come back we'll be ready to go."
"Will you promise not to go away from the post-office, but wait for me
there?" asked Sam.
The children promised and he stopped the sleigh before the high flight
of steps that led to the post-office. It was a square wooden building
and built on such a tall foundation that it looked as though it stood
on stilts. The fire house was in the basement, but the engine, when
there was a fire, went out of a door on the other side. You couldn't
expect a fire engine to come out under those wooden steps and turn
around to go to the fire.
Meg and Bobby carried the sled up the stairs and Twaddles carried the
glove. Dot wished she had something to carry, but she found a way to
be useful without that; she had to hold the door open for a stout old
gentleman who came up directly behind them and who almost was knocked
down the steps by the sled runners as Meg and Bobby tried to get it
inside the doorway.
"Thank you," said the stout old gentleman to Dot as she clung to the
heavy door. "You're a thoughtful little girl."
Once inside the post-office, the children found that it wasn't exactly
like the office at Oak Hill. It was larger and the windows were so far
from the floor that the twins couldn't see inside at all and Bobby had
to stand on tiptoe to speak to the clerk.
"We found some things in the road," said Bobby, holding on to the
little window shelf with both hands when the clerk who had heard them
come in asked him what he wanted.
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