"I only whispered a little. She didn't keep me in long. Come on now, we'll have some fun."
And fun the Curlytops and their playmates did have on their way home from school. They slid, they snowballed, they washed one another's faces and some of the boys even started to roll big snowballs, but the flakes were too dry to stick well, and they soon gave this up. It needs a wet snow to make a big ball.
When Teddy and Janet got home, their cheeks red, their eyes sparkling and their hair curlier than ever because some snow had gotten in it, they found their mother reading a letter which the postman had just left.
"Oh, what's it about?" asked Jan. "It's from Cherry Farm, isn't it, Mother? I can tell by the funny black mark on the stamp."
"Is it from grandpa?" asked Teddy.
"Yes," answered Mrs. Martin. "The letter is from grandpa."
"Is he coming here to spend Christmas, or are we going there just as you said we might?" asked Janet.
"I'm not sure about either one yet," replied her mother. "But grandpa sends his love, and he also sends a bit of news."
"What is it?" asked Ted.
"Grandpa Martin writes that an old hermit, who lives in a lonely log cabin in the woods back of Cherry Farm, says this is going to be the worst winter in many years. There will be big snowstorms, the hermit says, and Grandpa Martin adds that the hermit is a good weather prophet. That is, he seems to know what is going to happen."