‘Perhaps something may be found interesting eve: to the high and mighty elders,’ observed Lady Merrifield.
‘Oh! What, mamma?’
Mamma, of course, only looked mysterious.
‘And,’ added Val, ‘mayn’t we all go on a secret expedition and buy things for it?’
‘We’ve all been saving up,’ added Mysie; ‘and everybody knows every single thing in all the shop at Silverton.’
‘Besides,’ added Gillian, ‘the sconces will none of them hold, and almost all the golden globes got smashed in coming from Dublin, and one of the birds has its head off, and another has lost its spun-glass tail, and another its legs.’
‘A bird of Paradise,’ said Lady Merrifield, laughing; ‘but wasn’t there a tree at Malta decked with no apparatus at all?’
‘Yes, but Alley and Phyl can do anything!’
‘I think we must ask Aunt Jane—-’
There was a howl. ‘Oh, please, mamma, don’t let Aunt Jane get all the things! We do so want to choose.’