New England -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction
"Well, anyway, Mother," interrupted Alice anxious to comfort her sister,
"we _are_ coming to Wellesley, you know, that’s all settled and
Wellesley is _almost_ Harvard."
"Don’t you worry!" laughed Mrs. Merrill, "Uncle Hal wasn’t bothered. He
was so proud to have you like it all and so pleased the way you met all
his friends, that he liked to have you want to come—you just ask him
to-day and you’ll see.
"Now," she continued briskly, "I know you’re sleepy, but you hurry up
and jump into the tub. I have the water ready, and then when you’re
through, you’ll find a lovely surprise."
"Do I know, Mother?" asked Alice.
"No," replied Mrs. Merrill, "and you never in the world could guess, so
don’t try. While Mary Jane tubs, I’ll brush and braid your hair and by
that time the surprise will be coming and you’ll be ready for it. And
don’t hurry _too_ fast, Mary Jane," she added, "you want to scrub as
well as tub, you know."
It was a good thing she gave that warning, for even with a warning Mary
Jane hurried so furiously fast that there was no time wasted over
details. But she felt fresh and clean anyway and was wide awake and
glowing from her rub.
"Now where’s the surprise?" she asked.
"Slip into the bathroom again both of you—scoot!" and at that minute
there was a loud knock on the door.
"Now whatever do you suppose—" wondered Alice as she heard her mother
open the door of the room and talk to someone.
They had not long to wait—fortunately. A couple of minutes and Mrs.
Merrill opened the bathroom door and—what do you suppose they saw?
Drawn up near the windows that overlooked Copley Square was a cunning
little table and on the table was—you never would guess—breakfast for
three! Strawberries and cream and cereal and milk and eggs and toast
and hashed brown potatoes—the hot things all on silver dishes and
covered with big silver covers to keep them nice and hot while the fruit
and cereal were being eaten.
"Mother!" exclaimed Mary Jane, and then she stopped for she couldn’t
think of anything to say.
"How’d you ever think of it?" asked Alice.
"I didn’t," answered Mrs. Merrill, and the girls saw that she was as
pleased as they were with the idea. "Hal thought of it. When he
brought us up last night he suggested that maybe we’d be tired this
morning and that we shouldn’t hurry. He said he’d order it as he went
away and that I should ring when we were ready and they’d bring it up."
"And you did, and _they_ did," added Mary Jane, not very intelligently
to be sure, but they all knew what she meant.
"How did he know what to order?" asked Alice as she took the first
luscious bit of strawberry.
"I guess he just ordered what he saw you liked yesterday, which was a
very good way to do," said Mrs. Merrill. "Now while we eat, let’s plan
what to do to-day."
"When is the game?" asked Alice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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