“NOW do we do it?” asked Mary Jane’s eager little voice; “this is to-day!”
“Sure enough it is,” said Mrs. Merrill, sleepily. She looked over to Mary Jane’s bed and saw that a certain young person was wide awake and was sitting up straight and tall in her bed which stood right in the path of the sunshine.
“Yes it is, Mother,” added Mary Jane, fearful that her mother wasn’t really waked up yet; “see the sun? And you know this is the day when the surprise comes. Do we have it now?”
“Dear me, no,” said Mrs. Merrill, “how could we? See, Alice is sound asleep and none of us are dressed and the surprise is for three folks—three folks who are in this room.”
“Don’t worry about Alice,” said Mary Jane gayly; “I’ll get her up!” And with that threat she jumped out of bed and pulled the light covers off her sister. “Come on, Alice,” she cried; “you can sleep at home! Let’s get up and do the surprise.”
“Will I like it, Mother?” asked Alice and, luckily, she was too interested in the surprise to mind that the covers had been pulled off.
“Will you?” exclaimed Mrs. Merrill. “You just wait and see! You’ve been wanting to do this very thing for years and years and years.”
“Then let’s get dressed quick,” said Alice; “who’s going to tub first, Mary Jane?”
“Not too fast there, my dears,” said Mrs. Merrill; “the surprise doesn’t come till eleven o’clock.”
“MOTHER!” exclaimed both girls as though in one breath. And Mary Jane added, “Do we have to wait all that time?”