The ladies smiled some more.
“Our little brother is only two days old,” said Lillian.
“I bet if my papa had known about it, he would have bought him before your papa got him,” said Winifred.
At this the ladies all smiled again.
When luncheon was over, Frances engaged the attention of both old and young by her skill as a climber and slider, and it seems to me that twelve successful slides down the balustrade ought to have been enough for her, but, no, she wanted more, and in the thirteenth slide—biff, bang—down she went. But fortunately she landed on the couch, so that she escaped with only a bruise on her knee, which mistress quickly covered with court-plaster. But in descending, one of her heels struck Earl in the stomach and knocked him against the wall, so that he got a big bump on the back of his head.
Poor Earl tried hard not to cry, but the tears just oozed out in spite of him. Mistress sent word to Mrs. Wallace, his grandmamma, and in a few minutes she appeared with a remedy, and attended to the sore place in such an efficient way as only grandmammas know how.
Booker turned the queerest somersaults, sideways, frontward and backward trying to get his sash off, and Goldie and he engaged in several pugilistic encounters to the great delight and amusement of the children.
Finally I thought I’d show them what I could do, so I jumped on the piano and played a tune for them. At this Budge took courage. He jumped off the bookcase where he had been stowed away, and joined me on the piano and we played a duet, the like of which has never been heard on land or sea.
While we were still playing, a gentleman came with a big square box which he opened up and set upon a very high three-legged stool. Then he had mistress sit in front of it and the children all around her. The curtains were drawn, and the room was darkened, when, whiz—something blew up and made an awful flash, and everybody said “ah,” except poor little Burt; he said, “ouch,” and began to cry. Some of the stuff from the “flash” had blown toward him and burned his hand so that it became very red and blistered. Mrs. Gafney rushed across to her house to get some soothing oil that was said to be the best thing in the world for burns, and Burt’s hand was bandaged up.
It began to look by this time as though the whole party would have to be sent home in an ambulance; but the arrival of Don told us that it was getting close unto six o’clock, for he had come to take Winifred home; and in a few minutes all the children, quite unwillingly, began to make ready for their departure.