“They are from Arthur Ellsworth for all of us!” Gertrude said. “How nice it was of him to send them. You know, one always wears a chrysanthemum on Thanksgiving Day.”
“There’s something on the back of the card, Trudie, and you didn’t read it.”
“Suppose you read it then, Bettykins.” Gertrude was separating the flowers and giving one to each maiden, so Betty read:
“At the hour of three
A surprise there will be!”
“How exciting!” Peggy Pierce exclaimed as she whirled about gleefully.
“Here comes Patrick up the drive. Get on your hats and cloaks, everybody,” Adele announced. “It’s time to go!”
Little Alise was eagerly watching out of the wide front window in the library, and, when she saw the school bus turn in at the drive, she exclaimed joyously:
“Oh, Auntie Louise, here comes big sister Gertrude. Let’s you and I open the door.”
Miss Ellsworth, whose new happiness was shining in her face, nodded a dismissal to the maid who had come to answer the call of the knocker, and she and Alise greeted the merry girls.