ich she kept her writing materials; and
then, withdrawing the box of fancy note-paper from its hiding-place,
she sat down, and taking out sheet by sheet, spread them all on the table
before her.

"It do seem a pity to use it after keeping it all these years," she said
regretfully, as she examined each one. They were all different.
"But there, there couldn't be a better time. They'm just what I want."
So hardening her heart against any further regrets, she proceeded to make
her choice.

"I think Miss Poppy ought to have the roses. They'm considered the best
of all the flowers, and 'tis her day. Then Miss Esther shall have--let me
see. They'm all so pretty I don't hardly know which to choose for which--
oh, Miss Angela shall have the daisies, somehow they remind me of her,
and vi'lets seems like Miss Esther's flower, and I'll give the sunflowers
to Miss Penelope."

That settled, and four envelopes picked out and inscribed each with one of
the children's names, Anna squared her elbows and began the real work of
the evening. First she took some old scraps of paper, and wrote note
after note on them before she succeeded in pleasing herself. At last she
accomplished what she wanted, and feeling satisfied, copied it out, word
for word, on the four sheets of note-paper. She hesitated as to whether
she should not put her writing on the plain side, and so avoid marring the
fair beauty of the flowered side, but she thought better of it,
and hardened her heart; and after one had been done she did not mind so
very much.

It was almost late when at last she went to bed, her task had taken her so
long, and the clock actually struck ten as she crept into Esther's room
and left two of her little notes on the dressing-table, after depositing
the other two in Penelope's and Angela's room.

Poppy, being the heroine of the day, was naturally the first to wake the
next morning. At the remembrance of what the occasion was, she sat
straight up in bed with excitement, and nearly shouted; then she saw that
Esther was asleep still. It seemed very hard that every one else should
be asleep, and quite lost to the greatness of the occasion, while she was
awake and alert, all ready to receive congratulations.

As her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness she could make out a square,
fascinating-looking parcel on the table by Esther's bed, after which it
became almost intolerably hard to lie still and wait for the others to
wake. The li