“Oh, no!” exclaimed Nan. “Mine is a nice one, Dinah!”
“So’s mine!” echoed Flossie.
“An’ I’ve another!” added Freddie. “I’m sorry I scared you, Dinah.”
“Well, we’ll forgive you this time,” said his father. “Bring out the other presents now.”
And while this is being done I will take just a moment to tell my new readers something about the children who are to be the main characters in this story.
If you have read the first book of this series, called “The Bobbsey Twins,” you have learned that Mr. Bobbsey had a lumber business in the eastern city of Lakeport, on Lake Metoka. Bert and Nan were the two older twins. They had dark brown hair and brown eyes and were rather tall and slim. The younger Bobbsey twins were Flossie and Freddie. They were somewhat short and stout, and had light hair and blue eyes. The children had many good times together and with their playmates, Grace Lavine, Charlie Mason, Dannie Rugg, Nellie Parks and Ruth Nelson. They also had fun with Snoop, their pet cat, and with Snap, their dog.
There are a number of books coming between the first volume and the one just before this. The Bobbsey twins went to the country to visit Uncle Daniel, and at the seashore they stayed with Uncle William. Besides these trips the four children made a voyage on a houseboat, visited a great city, camped on Blueberry Island, went to Washington, and made a trip at sea. They had, a week or so before celebrating Dinah’s birthday, returned home after some exciting times out West.
You may read about these last adventures in the book just before this present volume. It is called “The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West,” and it tells how Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie helped solve a strange mystery about an old man.
It was now fall, and on their return from the West the Bobbsey twins had started to school again. Bert and Nan had gone into a higher grade, and Flossie and Freddie, though they were still the babies of the family, were now somewhat advanced at school, and were in regular classes, attending morning and afternoon, instead of going just in the morning, as they had done while they were still in the kindergarten.
One of the first affairs the Bobbsey twins had taken part in since their return from the West had been Dinah’s birthday celebration. Each of the children had bought the cook, of whom they were very fond, a present, but Freddie had provided an extra one, as we have seen.