A SURPRISE
Winter had really come at last, the snowflakes had covered the brown
fields, and time was fast hastening on to bring the great day of all
the year, Christmas day. Aida had sent gifts that she knew they would
like, their Uncle had brought them some gifts from Paris, and this
special friend of theirs had her own plan, that made her smile to
herself, when she thought how Edwy loved things that he could pet and
fondle and call his own. The other presents had all been sent early to
their city home, and messages of thanks had been sent back, but the
question had been flashed back to the senders:
“Why didn’t you come yourselves? Christmas day is never Christmas day,
unless you are here!”
But it was almost over, and, as yet, not any sign of the rest of the
group as the slow hours passed.
All at once there was a loud sound of tramping in the hall, then a
shout of welcome in the air, and Edwy hoped it might be one person ...
no, two, whom he loved, and who loved him. And sure enough, he was
not disappointed. Aida was there, and right behind her Edwy’s friend
appeared on the scene, all trim and fine, her eyes full of love; and
before they knew it, she had made a pounce upon Edwy, and the next
moment had him in her arms.
She said nothing about a wire-covered box that stood in the hall, but
seeing it accidentally after he had given her a good hug, “a real
bear-hug,” he said:
“Oh, you’ve brought down one of my box-traps. Is it one of them? But
we don’t need any box-traps here, for there’s nothing to catch.”
But Willard, by this time, had torn off the cover.... The box was
opened wide at last, and oh! wonder of wonders! here was the little
white cat, their beautiful Zephyr, looking up at them with questioning
eyes.
The shout that went up ended suddenly with the peculiarly happy screech
of an Indian warwhoop, a sound they had not heard from Edwy’s lips for
many a month. Instead of jumping out of her box at once, Zephyr sat
up on her cushion, and began to wash her face with her velvet paw,
and when she saw Edwy, she began at once that high-toned purr, as if
to show her gratitude, that after her long journey, she had found
her friends. Her next act was to jump out of her box, after one look
at their glad faces, and another glance from floor to ceiling and
from ceiling to floor, she started on a wild chase after one of the
Christmas apples, that had rolled out on the floor.
The boy and the cat now had their race of pure delight from room to
room. While the grace of her motions seemed the most wonderful in the
world, making all the people laugh, the rapt happy look on Edwy’s face
was a greater joy. It was a marvel of expression.
Zephyr was his very own, to keep always!
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.