The carriage stopped in front of a brownstone house. Statues of lions stood guard over the sidewalk. Flowers bloomed in boxes on either side of the stairs. The windows were smooth and shiny in the late afternoon sun.
     But what caught Mary's attention was how tall it was!
     She looked up and counted the floors. One, two, three, and then more windows up above that, sticking up from the roof.
     "Oh! Are those rooms up there?" she asked.
     Aunt Ellen laughed at her wonder. "Yes, sweetie. Those are dormers. The one on the right is the room you'll be staying in. I hope you like being way up in the air!"
     Mary was sure she would, and she opened her mouth to say so. Sarah quickly nudged her, with an elbow to the ribs.
     "Sshh!" she hissed, so only Mary could hear.
     Mary clamped her mouth shut. She had almost been happy! She turned her thoughts to the music box. Her lower lip stuck out in the slightest bit of a pout.
     But as the Muhlenbergs got down from the carriage, Mary's eyes went everywhere. The brownstone house was just as fancy inside as it was out. In front of her rose a stairway with carpeted steps. A thin man with a very proper look on his face stood ready to take their coats.
     "Who's he?" Mary whispered to Sarah, after he had bowed and left to put the coats away.
     "Oh, that's William." She shrugged. "He's the butler. All our butlers are named William."
     "How can they all be William?" Mary asked.
     "They have different names when they come. But they're all William to us. And the cooks are all Fanny," she added.
     Mary was very surprised at that! "Don't they mind?"
     "No, not at all," Sarah answered. "They're servants, silly. They just have to be told what we want to call them."
     She grabbed Mary's hand and pulled her toward the stairs. "C'mon! I'll show you your room."

In the days that followed, Sarah told Mary all sorts of things about New York City.
     "We get our water delivered," she said one day. "Our water man is coming this morning. Let's wait outside."
     Pretty soon, a delivery cart with big wooden wheels rolled to a stop out in front. A stout man with no hair on the top of his head got off of it. He lifted two huge jugs of water off the back of the cart. Then he lugged them up to Sarah's porch and set them down.
     "Papa will get them in a minute," Sarah whispered. "Let's follow the water man."
     There wasn't time to ask Papa or Mama. Mary paused for a second. "Will we be back soon?" she asked.
     "Yes, of course. Hurry! He's leaving!"
     They ran to catch up.
     Sarah made a game of it, hiding behind hedges and waiting to turn the corner till the water man had his back to them.
     Mary laughed. This was fun. It was nice to be away from her parents. Now she could laugh and Sarah wouldn't care.
     As they got farther away from home, though, Mary started worrying. "Sarah?" she called, in a small voice. "How do we get back?"
     Sarah stopped and turned around to face Mary. "Don't ever worry about that!" She said proudly. "Papa says that nobody has a better sense of direction than I do. I never get lost!"
     That made Mary feel much better. They ran on and hid some more. Finally, they got tired, and Sarah said they could go home. But they had made so many turns, and had run so far! Mary wasn't sure she had the strength to make it home.
     But it turned out that "home" was only two blocks away. Sarah's father was right. Sarah always knew exactly where she was. Mary decided she felt very safe with her cousin.

Mary got better every day at being sad. Sarah hardly ever had to nudge her anymore.
     The only time she really had trouble was on the Sabbath. Sarah and her family went to a big Presbyterian church down the street. Aunt Ellen had grown up Moravian, like Mama, but after she married Uncle James, they went to his church.
     That was okay with Mary. God loved all His children, she knew.
     So the first Sabbath, they went to church with Sarah's family.
     "We sit back here," Sarah whispered, as they entered the church.
     Mary was surprised. The church was so big! Why would anyone want to sit in the back? The pastor looked so tiny, and she could barely see between the people. But she just sat quietly beside her cousin and listened carefully.
     The preacher read from the same Bible as Papa did, she could tell. She recognized the words. When it came time to sing, though, she didn't know any of the songs. She missed the music she knew. And she especially missed the Moravian love feasts, where everyone got together to share one big, happy meal.
     "I think we will visit the Moravian church next week," Papa told Mama, after they got home. "It is farther away, but it will be our love feast day. I don't want us to miss that."
     Mary didn't want to miss it either.
     So the next Sabbath, the Muhlenbergs went to the Moravian church and moved right up front. Mary sat between Margaret and Mama. It was nice to be able to see the preacher. Mary decided he preached almost as well as Papa.
     It felt good to sing the songs, too. She sang out with all her heart, until she saw Mama glancing at her with a smile. And then she remembered! She mustn't let Mama think she was happy.
     Even though she really was.

A few days later, Mary and Sarah sat down to rest on the front steps of the brownstone house. Their skirts were gathered around them, but it was a little late to try to keep them clean. Already that morning, they had climbed two trees and crawled through a hedge.
     "Mary," Sarah said, "do you know how big New York City is?"
     Mary shook her head. "Tell me, please?" She loved hearing Sarah's stories.
     "It's so big, it covers the whole bottom half of Manhattan Island," her cousin boasted. "Papa said that in the last census there were 60,000 people living here. But that was a long time ago, and we're much bigger now. The next time they count, we'll probably have a million!"
     Mary could believe it. Everywhere she turned, people rushed this way and that.
     "So what are we going to do next?" Mary asked.
     "I don't know," Sarah answered. "I'm tired of always thinking of what to do. You decide."
     Mary was surprised. She had been so busy following Sarah that she hadn't had time to wonder what she wanted to do.
     What should she say?
     From a neighbor's yard, a dog barked. Suddenly, Mary remembered the old dog who had been her friend in the village.
     "Whose dog is that?" she asked. "Can we go play with him?"
     "That's Prince. He's Robert Jackson's dog. I guess we can, if we can catch him."
     "Can't we just call him?"
     "No, silly girl. He runs. You have to chase him." Sarah stood up and shook out her skirt. Then she pulled the hem up between her legs and tucked it firmly into her ribbon waistband. "I can catch him, though. Come with me!"
     Then she was darting down the street. Mary quickly gathered up her own skirt and followed. She wasn't about to miss out on this!
     She spotted Sarah up ahead. Sarah turned toward her and put a finger to her lips.
     "Sshh! He's sitting over there. See?"
     Mary spotted him. The big black dog was digging a hole.
     "I think he got a bone from the butcher," Sarah whispered. "Let's sneak up on him."
     They moved along the fence very quietly. But just as they got to the dog, he looked up and saw them.
     "Rowf!" he said, sharply. And then he snatched up the bone in his mouth and ran out the open gate.
     "Quick!" Sarah urged. "Let's get him!"
     Sarah was fast! She ran out onto the street and then zoomed to the right. Mary ran too. As she got to the gate, she saw Sarah already down at the corner. She put her head down and ran her hardest.
     Each time she got to a corner, she saw Sarah ahead. Sometimes she was just rounding the next one at full speed. Other times she was walking with very little steps, trying to sneak up on the dog. Mary could tell Prince must have sat down somewhere then.
     But just as she got close, they would take off again!
     Mary was getting tired. Her breath was coming in short little gasps. She had to rest. "Sarah!" she called. "Sarah! I can't run any more." She bent over with her hands on her knees. She only rested a second before she stood up and went on around the next corner.
     But when she got there, Sarah had disappeared!
     She waited a minute, sure that her cousin would show up soon. But she didn't. Mary called again. "Sarah? Sarah!"
     There was no answer. Mary suddenly realized she was all alone.
     She was lost in the big city, and she had no idea how to get home!

"What's wrong with you?" Sarah asked suddenly.
     Mary whirled. Where had she come from? Sarah stood at her side, feet planted wide and both hands through the collar of the big black dog they had been chasing. Mary could tell Prince didn't like being held. He jumped and lunged against Sarah's grasp, whining.
     Sarah jerked his collar sharply downward.
     "Stop it! Now!" she said, impatiently. Then she gave the collar a hard twist until the dog yelped.
     "Sit!" she commanded. Prince sat, but he didn't stop whining.
     Then Sarah turned to Mary, and looked at her suspiciously. "Your face is all white. You weren't scared, were you? Are you a baby? I told you I'd get you home!"
     "N-no," Mary lied. "I just didn't know where you were."
     Sarah studied her for a minute. Then the dog lunged at his collar again, and Sarah yanked him back.
     "Well," she said, "we'd better get this monster home if you still want to play with him."
     She turned to head home. Without looking back at Mary, she added, "But he's not a very nice dog. He doesn't like people very much."
     Mary trailed behind Sarah. The dog slowed her down enough that she was easy to follow. She watched Sarah yank on poor Prince's collar, and twist it, and slap him when he yelped.
     And Mary started to think.
     She thought about how Sarah hadn't waited for her. She thought about the way Sarah had mocked her for being afraid. And as she thought, she started to frown. She felt tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, and blinked hastily to try to chase them away.
     She was very unhappy.
     And this time, she didn't have to pretend.

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