Well, when she asked if she might put it on, nurse said she thought it would be wiser not to. "You won't be able to run about and climb trees at your grandpapa's if you do, Miss Isabel."
"But I shan't want to," replied Isabel, "for it is a grown-up party, and we shall only sit and talk."
So after all she was allowed to wear it, and with that on and a beautiful new sash her Uncle Dick had just sent her from India, she felt a very smart little girl indeed.
The shaving tidy she had done up in a parcel, and Peter had the knife in his pocket, so they were quite ready, and as they went down to the hall the clock struck three.
Alas! there was no motor waiting; instead there was mother with a telegram in her hand saying that Auntie May couldn't come for them till four o'clock.
What a disappointment! A whole hour longer to wait! What were they to do with themselves?
Mother suggested that they should sit down quietly and read, but who can possibly sit and read when a big motor is coming soon to fetch them?
So mother very kindly said they might go out in the garden.
"Only remember," she said, "you are not to run about and get hot and untidy; and keep on the paths, don't go on the grass."
So out they went, Isabel hugging her precious parcel. She was afraid to leave it in the hall lest mother should see it and guess by the shape what it was, which of course would spoil it all.