There was much laughing and chatter, as the paper dolls came down to the dining-room, and packed themselves in groups against the walls.
“Oh, how good that fire feels,” exclaimed a lady in pink paper. “Why, it’s all gone out!”
It was astonishing how fast the paper in the stove burned itself out, and the girls had to renew it repeatedly, and light it afresh each time.
“I’m ’bout tired of playing this,” said Pinkie; “let’s make one more fire and that’ll be the last. It’s getting awful hot.”
“Yes, make one more,” said Dolly, “for Mrs. Obbercrombie has just come down to get warm.”
“All right; stand her up by the stove.”
Pinkie touched off the newly-laid fire, and Dolly stood paper Mrs. Obbercrombie up near the stove; so near, in fact, that the lady fell over against it.
Dolly reached out to pick her up, but her finger touched the hot stove, and she drew it back with an “Ouch!” The little stove, from the burning of much paper, was nearly red-hot, and when the paper doll fell over against it, she blazed up immediately.
Then the paper dolls nearest her caught fire at once, and in two seconds the paper dolls were all ablaze. The tissue paper scarfs communicated the flames like tinder; the thicker paper of the dolls themselves burned steadily, and in a few moments the curtains caught, then the wooden house itself, and as the breeze from the open windows fanned it, a real conflagration of Dana Cottage ensued!
Soon the paper grass in the cottage yard caught fire, and the wooden animals served as further fuel.