"A-a—new bird!" from Madaline
"A baby bunnie!" from Cleo.
"I thought you would all say a doll," she replied, "for I had one old doll I never could quite give up. But I didn't bring her, and none of you have guessed. I am afraid you are going to be dreadfully disappointed."
Without further ado she drew from the basket nothing more than a small ordinary looking plant!
"Oh!" sighed Madaline, betraying her chagrin. "Only a flower!"
"That's all," admitted Mary, "but I don't believe you ever saw just this kind," and her voice was as soft and crooning as if she had been petting a real baby.
Cleo and Grace exchanged significant glances. Was the girl queer after all? they were asking.
The little plant looked like nothing more than the ordinary Jack-in-the-Pulpit, but Mary's tenderness in handling the beautifully wrought brass jar, in which the plant was growing, betokened something much more precious than our wood friend Jack.
"He's hungry," went on the child, and at this Grace burst into laughter. Cleo was tittering, and Madaline all but pouting her disappointment.
"I know what you think," Mary said with a good natured smile, "but this little flower really eats—and for his breakfast I must find a fly or spider."