She ran her fingers through her yellow curls and began to think. She thought how sad and lonesome Father had been the year Mother had taken Betsey and Tom on the big ship to England, and how the house looked when they came home again. Not that it was untidy, O no! There was the new piazza, and the grand new music room, and Betsey’s own room done over in soft rose-color and white. And another such brilliant idea popped into Betsey’s head that she laughed aloud.
Mother heard the laugh down in the pantry and smiled, and Norah heard it in the kitchen and grinned broadly. And Joe, the gardener, heard it out in the stables, and laughed too.
“I’ll let Mr. Delight get up a surprise! I can make Mrs. Delight her new bureau with my new mirror, and he can order two new bedrooms and a bathroom, if the old bookcase is anywhere near the right size!”
Here Betsey jumped up and ran for the old bookcase as fast as she could go. It was a funny bookcase. Father had “knocked it together” once, in a great hurry. The two shelves did not reach the back of the bookcase at all, which left a space for the books to fall backward in the most bothersome way. But it was lucky for Betsey that Father had left this space, or there would have been no doors between Mr. Delight’s new bedrooms. Betsey laid the bookcase on its side and measured it.
“Did you ever!” she cried. It measured exactly the same as the doll-house.
“So you wish to surprise your wife?” said Mr. Betts, cheerfully rubbing his hands as if nothing had happened. He set Mr. Delight comfortably in a little chair on the table.
“I do,” replied Mr. Delight. “We would like to have company, and really need a guest room.”
“The first thing, then,” proceeded Mr. Betts, “is to select wall-paper and clap it on.”
“And for clapping it on,” said Betsey, giggling, “I will need paste.” She skipped down-stairs to see what Mother would think about making paste on baking day. And she had a feeling besides that the pink sugar jumbles might be done.
The jumbles were done, but Mother was nowhere to be seen. “A caller,” said Norah.