e
right home to supper. Looks like a big storm."

He stamped down the steps into the snow, and Meg closed the hall door.

"Two sleds!" Twaddles was round-eyed with admiration. "Now I won't
have to wait all afternoon for my turn."

"Unwrap them," said Mother Blossom. "They're just alike, one for the
girls, and one for you and Bobby. Aunt Polly bought one as her gift."

Aunt Polly had gone upstairs to take off her hat, but the shouts of
excitement brought her back quickly.

"Flexible flyers!" cried Bobby. "Oh, Mother, can't we go out to-night?"

"Mercy, no," answered Mother Blossom. "To-morrow's Saturday, and
you'll have plenty of time to play in the snow. Hurry now, and get
ready for supper. I shouldn't want Daddy to come home and find his
family looking like wild Indians."

It was too much to expect that the children could think or talk
anything but sleds and snow that evening, and many were the anxious
peeps taken through the living-room windows after supper to see how
deep the feathery stuff was.

"Still snowing," reported Sam, as he brought in a great armful of wood
for the fireplace. "Looks like real winter at last."

Mother Blossom was mending the twins' mittens, for their thumbs had a
way of coming through, no matter how often she knitted them new pairs
or darned the old.

"I'm going upstairs to hunt my muffler," said Meg. "I think I left it
in the bureau drawer, but I'd better look."

Father Blossom laughed.

"You all evidently plan to start out right after breakfast, don't you?"
he teased them. "Where is the best coasting, Bobby?"

"On Wayne Place hill," replied Bobby. "My, I'm anxious to let Fred
Baldwin see the new sled."

Aunt Polly folded up her embroidery.

"I'll go upstairs with you, Meg," she said. "I've something I want to
show you. Come into my room after you find your scarf."

As they went upstairs they met Twaddles coming down, carrying the cat,
Annabel Lee, in his arms.

"Going to give her a ride on the sled--just in the hall," he informed
them. "If she gets used to sleds in the house, maybe she'll like to
take a ride outdoors. Philip could pull her."

Aunt Polly was doubtful about Annabel Lee's feelings toward sleds, but
Twaddles was sure she would learn to like coasting.

CHAPTER III

AUNT DOROTHY'S LOCKET

"Aunt Polly?" Meg tapped lightly on her aunt's door.

"Yes, dear, come in," called Aunt Polly. "You found your muffler?
That's good. Come o