vite Miss Penny, Meg,
'cause if you do F'lissy an' me 'll be thest shore to disgrace the party
a-laughin'. She looks thest ezzac'ly like a canary-bird, an' Buddy has
tooken her off till we thest die a-laughin' every time we see her. I
think she's raised canaries till she's a sort o' half-canary herself.
Don't let's invite her, Sisty."

"And don't you think Miss Penny would enjoy a slice of Christmas turkey
as well as the rest of us, Felix?"

"No; I fink she ought to eat canary-seed and fish-bone," chirped in
Dorothea.

Dorothea was only five, and this from her was so funny that even Meg
laughed.

"An' Buddy says he knows she sleeps perched on the towel-rack, 'cause
they ain't a sign of a bed in her room."

The three youngest were fairly choking with laughter now. But the older
ones had soon grown quite serious in consulting about all the details of
the matter, and even making out a conditional list of guests.

When they came to the fortune-teller, both Ethel and Conrad hesitated,
but Meg, true to her first impulse, had soon put down opposition by a
single argument.

"It seems to me she's the special one _to_ invite to a Christmas party
like ours," she pleaded. "The lonesomer an' horrider they are, the more
they belong, an' the more they'll enjoy it, too."

"Accordin' to that," said Conrad, "the whole crowd ought to have a dizzy
good time, for they're about as fine a job lot of lonesomes as I ever
struck. And as for beauty! 'Vell, my y'ung vriends, how you was
to-morrow?'" he continued, thrusting his thumbs into his armholes and
strutting in imitation of the old Professor.

[Illustration: "'SHE OUGHT TO EAT CANARY-SEED AND FISH-BONE'"]

Meg was almost out of patience. "Do hush, Buddy, an' let's talk
business. First of all, we have to put it to vote to see whether we
_want_ to have the party or not."

"I ain't a-goin' to give my money to no such a ugly ol' party," cried
Felix. "I want pretty little girls with curls an' wreafs on to my
party."

"An' me, too. I want a heap o' pretty little girls with curls an' wreafs
on--_to my party_," echoed Felicie.

"An' I want a organ-grinder to the party that gets my half o' our
picayunes," insisted Felix.

"Yas, us wants a organ-grinder--an' a monkey, too--hey, F'lix?"

"Yes, an' a monkey, too. Heap o' monkeys!"

Meg was indeed having a hard time of it.

"You see, Conrad"--the use of that name meant reproof from Meg--"you
see, Conrad, this all comes from your m