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CHAPTER VIII THE PARTY
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 "The party" happened to be the ice-cream, and Brother and Sister watched eagerly as the delivery boy carried the heavy wooden tub in which the cream was packed, up the back steps.
 
"Going to have a party?" he smiled at them as he came back to his wagon1. "Have a good time!"
 
The pretty little notes of invitation, which Mother Morrison had written to six boys and six girls, friends of Brother's and Sister's, two weeks ago, had said from "four to six," so it was time to dress in the best white clothes soon after lunch. Indeed, Brother's collar bow was not tied before the doorbell rang, and Nellie Yarrow arrived.
 
"I suppose she lived so far away, she thought she might be late," said Louise.
 
She ran downstairs and showed Nellie where to put the present she had brought for Brother.
 
After that the other boys and girls came, one by one, and Brother soon had a little pile of presents on the living-room table. He opened each one, and said thank you to the child who had brought it, and he forgot to be shy, so that he really enjoyed it all very much.
 
Charlie Raynor and his sister, Winifred, were the last to come, and Winifred was excited over something.
 
"I had the most awful time with Charlie!" she announced earnestly, to sympathetic Mother Morrison. "He acted dreadful!"
 
Winifred was two years older than Charlie and felt responsible for him.
 
"Give Roddy his present now," Winifred urged Charlie. "Hurry, I tell you."
 
Silently Charlie held out a little paper bag of candy.
 
"I had all I could do to keep him from eating it on the way here," his sister explained. "He just loves candy!"
 
Brother took the bag of candy and put it with his other gifts on the table. Then the children began the peanut hunt, which was the first game Louise and Grace had planned for them.
 
This was played outdoors, and it was fully2 half an hour before all the peanuts had been discovered. Then, as several of the girls wanted to start the old, old game of "Going to Jerusalem," and Grace offered to play the music, they all trooped back to the living-room.
 
"Why, Roddy, your candy is gone!" announced Sister in surprise. "When did you eat it?"
 
Brother came up to her where she stood by the table of presents.
 
"I didn't eat it," he said wonderingly. "I left it right there on top of that book. Isn't that funny!"
 
"Well, it's gone," asserted Sister. "Someone ate it!"
 
Winifred had heard, and now she turned on the unfortunate Charlie.
 
"Charles Eldridge Raynor!" she said sternly. "Did you eat Roddy's candy that you brought him? Did you?"
 
Charlie nodded miserably3. He had slipped into the room, unnoticed during the peanut hunt, and unable to longer withstand the temptation, had calmly eaten up his birthday gift.
 
"I hope," stammered4 Winifred with very red cheeks, "I hope you will excuse him, Mrs. Morrison. I never knew him to do such a thing before!"
 
"Oh, it isn't anything so very dreadful," declared Mother Morrison, smiling. "Any laddie with a sweet tooth might easily do the same thing. Come, children, Grace is waiting to play for you."
 
They played "Going to Jerusalem" and "drop the Handkerchief," and all the time there was the mysterious fishpond back of the table! But they could not fish till after they had had ice cream.
 
As they were playing a noisy game of "Tag" out on the lawn, Molly came to the door to ask them to come into the dining-room.
 
Such a pretty table met their eyes! It seemed to be all blue and white, and in the center was the big birthday cake—iced as only Molly could ice it, and showing no trace of the starch5 Sister had tried to cover it with. Six candles twinkled merrily on the top.
 
"Make six wishes, Brother," said Mother Morrison.
 
"Then he blows, and as many candles as he blows out he will have wishes come true," explained Sister quaintly6.
 
Brother made his wishes—they must not be spoken aloud—and then took a deep breath.
 
Pouf! Three of the candles went out
 
"Three wishes!" shouted the children. "You'll have three wishes come true!"
 
It was a lovely birthday supper. Everyone said so. They had chicken sandwiches, and cocoa, and vanilla7 and strawberry ice-cream, and of course the birthday cake, which Brother cut in slices himself with the big silver cake knife.
 
"Why—look!" ejaculated Sister in surprise, glancing up from her cake at the doorway8.
 
Mother Morrison stood there, smiling, and in her hands she carried what seemed to be a very large pudding or pie baked in a milk pan.
 
"What is it?" said Brother curiously9. "What is it?"
 
"It's a secret," answered his mother mysteriously. "Grandmother Hastings planned it for you."
 
"And you and Louise bought part of it," Grandmother Hastings assured him, nodding and smiling from the other doorway, the one that led into the hall.
 
She had come over, in her prettiest white and lavender gown, to see the end of the party.
 
Mother Morrison came up to the table with the pie and the children saw that the paper crust was full of little slits11 and that from each slit10 a ribbon hung out. Some were blue and some were pink.
 
"Each girl must choose a blue ribbon," said Mother Morrison. "The pink ones are for the boys. You pull first, Lucy."
 
Lucy Reed pulled one of the blue ribbons. She hauled out a little celluloid doll dressed in a gay red frock.
 
"How lovely!" Lucy cried. "Do we all get something?"
 
Each child was eager to pull a ribbon, and, wasn't it strange?—there were just enough ribbons to go round! After every one, including Brother and Sister, had had his turn, the "crust" was all torn, and not a single present or ribbon was left.
 
"Half-past five!" said Louise then, looking at her little wrist-watch. "We must hurry with the fishing."
 
So they went into the living-room and had a delightful12 time fishing in the pond back of the table. There was a gift for everyone who fished, and when six o'clock struck, and it was time to go home, each small guest had a package to take along.
 
"We've had the nicest time," they called to Mother Morrison as they said good-bye. "We hope Roddy has a party every year."
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
2 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
3 miserably zDtxL     
adv.痛苦地;悲惨地;糟糕地;极度地
参考例句:
  • The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
  • It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨,天气又冷又湿,令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 stammered 76088bc9384c91d5745fd550a9d81721     
v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠,结结巴巴地说,“你是什么意思?” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
5 starch YrAyK     
n.淀粉;vt.给...上浆
参考例句:
  • Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
  • I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。
6 quaintly 7kzz9p     
adv.古怪离奇地
参考例句:
  • "I don't see what that's got to do with it,'said the drummer quaintly. “我看不出这和你的事有什么联系,"杜洛埃说道,他感到莫名其妙。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • He is quaintly dressed, what a strange one he is. 他一身的奇装异服,真是另类!
7 vanilla EKNzT     
n.香子兰,香草
参考例句:
  • He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
  • I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。
8 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
9 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
10 slit tE0yW     
n.狭长的切口;裂缝;vt.切开,撕裂
参考例句:
  • The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
  • He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。
11 slits 31bba79f17fdf6464659ed627a3088b7     
n.狭长的口子,裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开,撕开( slit的第三人称单数 );在…上开狭长口子
参考例句:
  • He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
  • "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去!" 她恶狠狠地说,那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。
12 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。


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