Adele sank down on a chair and looked so white and strange that Jack ran to her side and exclaimed, “Oh, Della, did we frighten you too much? I didn’t realize that it would be so scary.”
“I was afraid that we should frighten Adele,” Gertrude said remorsefully, as she knelt beside her friend. “That’s why I suggested that we go to the front door and ring.”
But Adele, quickly regaining her composure, sprang up with a laugh, and the color returned to her cheeks as she said: “No, you did not frighten me too much. I guess I am just surprised, and that is what one should be at a surprise-party, isn’t it?”
Then, quite herself again, she chattered on gayly: “Do look at you all, in your pretty best! And Peggy has her heart’s desire—a chance to wear her new muslin with the rosebuds on it. It’s as pretty as can be, Peggy, and your pink sash is adorable. Well, now I must run up-stairs and dress.”
“I’ll go with you and be your maid,” said Gertrude Willis, who was Adele’s dearest friend. “You other girls may stay and entertain the boys.”
With Jack as Master of Ceremonies, the fun soon began. Meanwhile Adele bathed and dressed in her prettiest. From below came the merry strains of the victrola, playing waltzes and hops. When the two girls descended the stairway, they found that the library had been cleared of furniture. Mrs. Doring, having returned from her drive, had made this good suggestion.
Then what a merry hour they had. Suddenly the front-door bell rang and Adele skipped to open it. An expressman stood outside and he inquired, “Does Adele Doring live here?”
“Yes, she does,” that wondering young lady replied, and then into the hall the expressman brought a wooden box, which he deposited on the floor. When he was gone Adele exclaimed eagerly, “Oh! Oh! What do you suppose is in it?”
“I’ll get the hammer and then we will find out,” Jack said. A moment later he was prying off the cover. There, among soft tissue papers, lay ever so many books, all bound in pale blue, and the set was called “Stories That Girls Like Best.” Indeed, there was every title among them that a girl of thirteen could wish to possess. Adele clasped her hands and exclaimed rapturously, “Who could have sent me such a beautiful gift?”
“Here’s a card,” Jack said, as he handed it to her, and eagerly she read: