“A little bird told me,” said Dan promptly.
“I guess it was an Olive-bird,” laughed Dora. “I don’t remember telling anybody but Olive how much I wanted one.”
Lucy was eager for Dora to open her gift. Dora thought it was lovely. It was a roll of colored papers and paper lace, for making hats and dresses for paper dolls. Such a gift was most desirable for work on winter evenings.
Now two packages were left, one of which had come through the mail. Dora opened the other first. This was from Father and was a copy of “Alice in Wonderland.”
Dora loved that story. She had borrowed it many times from the Public Library and never expected to have a copy of her own. Father explained that he had a chance to buy it through the printing-press and knew she would like it.
“There is another part to my present,” he said. “Next week there is to be a good film at the movies, ‘Anne of Green Gables.’ You and Lucy and Mother are to see the afternoon performance.”
Lucy and Dora both had to hug Father now. It was not often that Mother let them go to the movie theatre. She thought the pictures were not as nice as books. It would be great fun to see “Anne,” and all the more fun to know about it so long before.
Now there was one package left to open, but under it were two post-cards and a letter. One card was from Mr. Thorne, the rector of the church where the Merrills went and where Uncle Dan sang in the choir. The other was from Miss Page, Dora’s Sunday school teacher. Both had remembered to send a birthday greeting.
The letter and the package were from Miss Chandler. Dora took off the outer wrapper of the package and found a candy-box, much like the one her pincushion had gone traveling in. But no candy, unless made of sea-foam, could be so light as that box. When she opened it, nothing showed but tissue paper.