Read Ebook: The Bobbsey twins at Cloverbank by Hope Laura Lee Rogers Walter S Illustrator

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Ebook has 1569 lines and 47883 words, and 32 pages

But this did not happen, because Flossie remained in the little closet under the stairs for some time. She appeared to be taking great pains to hide the box she was carrying.

However, a little later Flossie came softly back into the kitchen through the door leading to the back hall.

"There! Nobody knows where it is but me!" she declared.

"Dat's good," murmured Dinah.

"And maybe I could have a piece of pie," went on the little girl. "I think you bake the loveliest pies, Dinah! Honest I do!"

"Yes'm, honey lamb, dey is good!" admitted the cook, with pardonable pride in her work. "But Ah cain't cut a fresh pie fo' yo!"

"Oh, dear!" sighed Flossie.

There was a noise on the cellar stairs and Dinah wondered if Freddie were coming up.

But nothing like this happened. The cellar door did not open, and Flossie did not appear to have heard the noise.

"Isn't there anything you can give me to eat, Dinah?" she asked wistfully. "I'm so hungry!"

"Bress yo' heart, honey lamb! Ah kin gib yo' some 'lasses cookies!" replied Dinah.

"Oh, molasses cookies! I just love them!" cried Flossie, and when she had several in her hands she ran out, crying: "Freddie! Freddie! Where are you? I got cookies!"

Freddie did not answer, and the voice of Flossie died away as she ran in search of him.

But pretty soon the kitchen cellar door opened and Freddie's head was thrust out. Dinah heard the noise of the knob and turned to look at the little fellow.

"Is she gone?" whispered Freddie. "Is Flossie gone?"

"She suah has," was the reply.

"I'm glad she didn't see me," he went on. "I got it hid down behind the coal bin."

"Good lan'!" exclaimed Dinah. "Whut's it all about, anyhow?"

"Hush!" begged Freddie in a whisper. "I got Daddy a present for his birthday--it's to-morrow, you know. I found a basket and I picked it full of flowers. And in the bottom of the basket is a new baseball. I saved up my money and bought it for him. He'll think there's only flowers in the basket, but down under them's the baseball. An' if Daddy doesn't want it to play with himself he can give it to me; can't he, Dinah?"

"Ah reckon he can, honey!" chuckled the colored cook.

"Don't you think that's a 'riginal present for Daddy, Dinah?" asked the little fellow. "I wanted to give him something 'riginal!"

"It suah am 'riginal, all right," admitted Dinah. "An' here's some cookies fo' yo'. Better run out now an' play!"

"I will," agreed Freddie. "But don't tell anybody about my 'riginal present for Daddy, will you?"

"No, Ah won't," Dinah promised.

It was a little while after this that Flossie came running back, begging for more cookies.

"Have yo' done eat all dem up I gib yo'?" asked Dinah.

"I gave some to Mary Blake and some to Sallie Porter," explained Flossie, naming two of her playmates. "So I didn't have many myself."

"Dat's too bad!" murmured Dinah. "But dere's plenty mo' cookies! He'p yo'se'f, honey," and she brought out the pan.

Flossie looked around the kitchen to make sure none but Dinah could hear her, and then she whispered:

"Dinah, do you know what was in that box I hid in the stair closet? Do you?"

The cook could pretty well guess by this time, but she pretended she did not know and shook her head.

"It's a present for daddy's birthday," went on Flossie. "I'm going to give it to him when we eat supper. Do you know what it is?"

Again Dinah shook her head.

"Well, I'll tell you, but you mustn't tell anybody!" whispered Flossie. "It's a little folding go-cart for a doll. I think Daddy will like that, don't you? It's the cutest little go-cart and it all folds up small and goes in a box. But you can unfold it big enough to ride my largest doll. Isn't that a nice present for Daddy?"

"It suah am!" laughed Dinah.

Though Bert and Nan said nothing to her about the packages they had so secretly hidden, Dinah guessed that the older twins had also bought presents for their father's birthday, which occurred on the morrow, but which would be celebrated that evening, as usual.

"Ah wonders if Bert an' Nan got t'ings laik Freddie an' Flossie?" chuckled Dinah. "Dose small twins suah am lookin' out for derse'ves!"

It was later in the afternoon, and the Bobbsey twins were gathering about the house to get washed and dressed for supper, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll go!" cried Nan, making a dash for the hall.

Bert was also ready to answer the ring, but his twin sister was a little bit ahead of him. And Flossie and Freddie were not far behind Bert, who ran out into the front hall in time to see Nan talking to the driver of an express wagon.

"Does Mr. Richard Bobbsey live here?" asked the expressman.

"Yes, sir," answered Nan.

"But he isn't home from the office yet," added Bert.

"Well, I guess that won't matter," went on the man, with a laugh. "I have a box here for him. The charges are paid so I will leave it, if one of you will sign the receipt for it."

"I'll sign," offered Nan, as she had often heard her mother say.

The box was set down in the front hall. It was of wood, and seemed quite heavy.

"What's in it?" asked Bert.

"I don't know," the expressman answered. "Maybe it has a fortune in gold in it. Anyhow, there's something that rattles. And a letter came to the office, asking us to deliver the box just before supper this evening. Maybe it has something good to eat in it."

He drove away with a laugh, while the Bobbsey twins gathered about the mysterious box in the hall--a box that had come to their father on the eve of his birthday.

What was in it?

That is what each of the Bobbsey twins wondered.

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