MRS. OWEN’S SURPRISE PARTY
Mrs. Owen was to have a birthday, and Peggy and Alice felt something especial ought to be done to celebrate it. It was Miss Pauline Thornton who put the idea of a surprise party into Peggy’s head. She came over one rainy evening to tell Mrs. Owen about a surprise party the Sewing Circle was to give to the minister’s wife on her fiftieth birthday. Miss Pauline Thornton lived with her father in the large gray stone house behind the stone wall on which Peggy was fond of walking. She was a great friend of Mrs. Owens, who could never understand why the children did not like her, for she was tall and good-looking and always wore beautiful clothes. Older people found her very agreeable and efficient. Mrs. Owen helped her off with her raincoat. Underneath it was a dress the color of violets.
If Miss Pauline had been the kind of person with whom one could play the geography game, Peggy thought what a good time they could have had living together in Pennsylvania. But as it was, she did not like to spend even a half-hour with her. Miss Pauline’s big house seemed dreary to Peggy, with its high ceilings and stately furniture and pictures. When she went there to call with her mother, she always hoped that she might see the collie dog and Miss Pauline’s father. She liked old Mr. Thornton. He had white hair and a kind face, and he looked as if he might like to play the geography game, if only his daughter was not there, but she always was there.
Mrs. Owen was reading aloud to the children when Miss Thornton came in.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt; I thought the children were always in bed by this time,” she said, glancing at the clock.
“It is their bedtime, but I was late in beginning to read to them to-night. You can finish the story to yourselves if you like.”
“Aren’t you going to shake hands with me, Peggy?” Miss Thornton asked.
Peggy slowly unlocked her arms, which she had folded behind her, and held out an unwilling hand.
“What is the story that is so interesting?” Miss Thornton asked, as she took the book out of Peggy’s other hand.
“‘Snow White and Rose Red,’” she said. “I never cared for fairy-tales when I was a child.”