“Why, Twaddles!” said Mother Blossom. “You and Dot are going shopping Saturday morning, you know you are. And Norah and I need you tomorrow to help us get ready for Uncle Dave and Aunt Miranda.”
So Twaddles cheered up and decided that he was important, after all.
Friday morning, Meg and Bobby pattered away to school for the one session which always featured the last day before the close of a term or the beginning of a holiday. They found the building bright with wreaths and ropes of Christmas greens.
“Have you seen the tree?” asked Palmer Davis excitedly, meeting Bobby in the hall. “It’s a great big one, almost as high as the ceiling. And all the presents are tied on. They did it last night.”
The pupils filed into the assembly hall as usual, but it is doubtful whether any of them heard the Bible reading or knew which song they were singing. All eyes were fastened on the beautiful big tree which towered nearly to the ceiling. It was sprinkled with tissue-paper packages and looked as mysterious as though Santa Claus had trimmed it himself.
There was an hour or so of work in the classrooms, putting the desks in order for the holiday recess, and making sure that no loose papers were left in the books, and then the gong sounded again and the whole four grades marched back to the assembly hall for the exercises.
Bobby’s class sat directly across the aisle from Meg’s and she saw him and smiled. Miss Wright read them a Christmas story that made everyone think of Christmas Eve and stockings to be filled and all the fun of Christmas morning; then the school sang two Christmas carols and then, and then it was time to distribute the presents. Mr. Carter came in to do that. He had spent half the morning at the grammar school exercises.
It was great fun and there was so much talk and laughter—for Mr. Carter himself said that they should talk as much as they pleased—that even the janitor peeped in to see what the racket was about. The pupils were told to unwrap their presents as soon as they received them and such a collection you never saw! There were tin whistles and small horns, and these, of course, the boys simply had to test at once, and ribbons and little dolls and candy and paint boxes, and indeed about everything you could hope to mention.
Meg had a tiny painting set (which she planned to give to Dot) and a doll’s fan for her gifts, and she looked about for Bobby to show them to him as soon as she had unwrapped them. She found him in one corner of the room with Palmer Davis, Bertrand and Fred. Bobby looked very angry.
“I think it’s mean,” Fred was saying as Meg came up.