The play was a very amusing one, and the children laughed so hard that
Freddie at last rolled off his seat and had to be picked up by his father.
But this only made all the more fun, and the people around the Bobbsey
family joined in the laughter when an usher helped Mr. Bobbsey place
Freddie in his proper place again.
Then the curtain went down on the first act, and as the lights were turned
up the children looked about them. Freddie found himself seated next to a
boy about his own age, who, with an elderly lady, had come in after the
performance began. This was why Freddie had not noticed his little
neighbor before.
"Isn't this a dandy show!" cried Freddie.
"The best I ever saw," answered the boy. "What's your name?"
"Freddie Bobbsey. What's yours?"
"Laddie Dickerson. Where do you live?"
"We live away up in Lakeport, but we're staying at the Parkview Hotel."
"Why--why, that's where _we_ live, my mother and my uncle and my aunt. My
father is dead. We live at the hotel, except in the Summer, when we go to
the seashore. What floor are you on?"
"The tenth. I know 'cause I holler it out when we come up in the
elevator."
"Why, _we_ live on the tenth floor, too," said Laddie Dickerson. "It's
funny I never saw you."
"And it's funny I never saw you," replied Freddie. "Say, come and play
with me, will you?"
"Sure I will! Well have lots of fun. I've got a train of cars."
"I've got a fire engine!" said Freddie, his eyes big with delight.
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