“Do you know, Maddie had never seen flowers growing out of doors and never had rolled on the grass. It was the way she talked of her home, and the way she lived with her grandmother, that made us plan to have a Christmas time.
“It is just as lovely in the country in the winter as it is in the summer, and so different.”
“The air is just as fresh,” broke in Lois, and they all laughed while Rings drew a little nearer to the crackling grate fire.
“The people who invited the children last summer,” Dorothy, full of her cherished plans, went on, “have invited them this Christmas time. The children are coming one week before Christmas day and stay until after the New Year. We are planning to have two weeks of happy days; snow-balling, sleighing, making snow men and forts, and, oh! all kinds of winter games.
“Every one is going to do something to give them a good time. Mrs. Grant is going to invite them to her house to pop corn, Mrs. Waring is going to show them some beautiful pictures and have a moonlight ride, father says Lois and I may invite them to a candy pull, and give a party Christmas afternoon. We are going to have a Santa Claus hunt.
“There will be a gift hidden about the house for each child and he or she must find it. It’s going to be a happy time for every one.”
“Is there to be a Christmas tree?” asked the doctor.
“Not at the party; Christmas eve and Christmas morning are to belong to their hostess. She is to see about the tree and hanging the stockings and the surprises, and all that, just as if it were her own little boy or girl.”
“The only thing that spoils it a little is,—we can’t find Maddie Morrison,” broke in Lois. “She does not live where she used to and we planned to have her with us.”
The doctor leaned suddenly forward, his face all aglow with eagerness, as he exclaimed: “That’s just what I’ve been waiting for, some definite instruction from Santa Claus. I’m going in search of Maddie. She shall have all these good things that have been planned for her.” Then, with an expression of utter bewilderment, he questioned: “Am I to send her by parcel post or just bring her in my suit case, or, will she be able to travel like any ordinary little girl, when she hears of the wonderful two weeks?”