om, who had come upstairs while the
little girls were talking. "Let Mother tie your ribbon, Meg. What's
the matter with Dot?"

Meg bubbled into a gay little laugh.

"She was wishing she was a bird with a dress glued on," she said.
"Wouldn't that be funny?"

"Yes, it would," agreed Mother Blossom. "But bring me the white pique,
dear, and let me help you into it. Daddy is waiting for us."

Dot was buttoned into a clean dress in a minute, and then Mother
Blossom had to call Twaddles away from the basin in the bathroom where
he was playing in the water instead of washing his hands, and she had
to find a clean handkerchief for Bobby, and then, at last, they could
all go downstairs.

Father Blossom was playing the mechanical piano, but he stopped as
soon as he saw them.

"Everybody here to-night?" he asked. "Well, that is fine! Come on,
Dottie-mine, and Daddy will tie your bib for you."

The twins did not always have supper with Mother and Father Blossom.
Sometimes they had their bread and milk at five o'clock and went to
bed at half-past six. It was a treat for them to eat supper with their
father.

Mother Blossom smiled at the eager faces.

"We've company coming," she announced. "Some one you love to have
visit us."

"When are they coming?" asked Meg.

"To-morrow," answered Mother Blossom. "If I hadn't asked Bobby for the
mail, we might have been in a great pickle. She's coming on the
nine-fifty-six to-morrow morning."

"Aunt Polly!" shouted the four little Blossoms.

"Is it Aunt Polly, Mother?"

"How long will she stay?"

"Can we go to meet her?"

"Will she bring a trunk?"

Mother Blossom put her hands over her ears.

"Don't all talk at once," she begged. "Yes, Aunt Polly is coming. She
can't stay long, not even a week----"

"But what do you think?" interrupted Father Blossom. "She wants the
four Blossoms to go home with her!"

"Ralph, you're not a bit better than Bobby," scolded Mother Blossom.
"I didn't want to tell them to-night. However, there's no use trying
to keep a secret in this family. Aunt Polly has invited you all to
spend the summer at Brookside Farm."

Well, of course, the children could talk of nothing else after that.
Aunt Polly Hayward was Mother Blossom's eldest sister. She was a widow
and lived on a fine farm many miles distant from the town of Oak Hill.
She came often to visit Mother Blossom, and the children thought there
was no one like her. To go to see Aunt Polly was a