"You thought we had gone home, didn't you?"
"But we haven't and we aren't going to! Miss Pomeroy said we might stay."
"And the other girls left those packages for jokes. The real presents are all in the principal's office."
"Oh, girls!" gasped Tabitha, with eyes shining like diamonds.
"Oh, girls!" echoed Bertha, her face wreathed in her own sunny smile again.
CHAPTER XVIII
TABITHA'S CHRISTMAS
Christmas Day dawned bright and clear and with the first peep of dawn Tabitha was out of bed, shaking Chrystobel vigorously and calling, "Merry Christmas, lazybones! Wake up; it's day! The rising bell has rung. Didn't you hear it?"
"Oh, you are dreaming," drowsily murmured the weary girl in the other bed. "This is vacation time."