Megsy clapped her hands in little girl fashion as she exclaimed merrily, “Oh, aren’t we having fun? I only wish that Babs might see the pleasure her surprise box is giving up. Now you choose one of the packages and open it and then I’ll do the same. That will make the surprise last longer.”
So Virginia chose a queer-shaped package and began to untie the narrow red ribbon, but she found whatever it was it had many wrappings. On one of these was written, “Pause and guess what I may be. I begin with a letter P.”
“If that isn’t just like Babs!” Margaret exclaimed. “Do you suppose it is a penwiper?”
“No,” Virginia said as she continued to unwrap the gift. “It feels like cardboard. Oho! Just look! It’s the dearest photograph of Babs herself.”
“It’s a new one taken in her first party dress,” Margaret exclaimed admiringly as the two heads bent over the picture of a merry-eyed girl with bobbed curls. “It’s the sweetest dress. She had it made just before I left. It’s pink and all fluffy ruffles. I’ll just be green with jealousy if Babs hasn’t sent me one, too.”
“I’m sure that you will find one,” Virginia declared as they both peered into the surprise box wondering which of the unopened packages contained the wished-for photograph.
“Well, let’s open them as they come,” Megsy said at last. “Babs has purposely wrapped them in queer shapes.”
It took the girls a long happy hour to untie the gifts. There were two pretty handkerchiefs, two books, “Just Patty” and “When Patty Went to College.” Two line-a-day diaries and two boxes of chocolate fudge so full of nut meats that they bulged.
“It’s the kind Babs makes every Saturday night at boarding school,” Margaret said, then she added: “Oh good! Here are two letters from my darling room-mate, one for you and one for me. Now we will know all the jolly news items about Vine Haven.”
“You read your letter first,” Virginia said as she piled the soft pillows back of them on the window seat and settled down for comfortable enjoyment of a visit with the far-away Babs.