burst into the room with a shout of heartiest greeting. Their eyes were
sparkling with fun, their cheeks rosy from a run in the fresh spring air,
and their arms were filled with bundles of all sizes and shapes.

"Ho, Birger! Oh, Gerda!" was their cry; "it took us an endless time to
get past the porter's wife at the street door, and she made us answer a
dozen questions. 'To what apartment were we going? Whom did we wish to
see? Why did we all come together?'"

"And did you tell her that you were coming to the third apartment to see
the Ekman twins, and were bringing clothing and gifts to fill a surprise
box?" asked Gerda, holding up her apron for the packages.

"Yes," replied a jolly, round-faced boy whom the others called Oscar,
"and we had to explain that we didn't know who was to have the box, nor
why you telephoned to us to bring the gifts to-night, when you said only
last week that you wouldn't want them until the first of June."

"There has been a hard storm on the northern coast, and Father is
going by train as far as Luleå, to see if it did much damage to the
lighthouses," Gerda explained. "He thinks that the storm may have caused
great suffering among the poor people, so we are going to send our box
with him, instead of waiting to send it by boat in June. He has to start
on his trip very early in the morning, so the box must be ready
to-night."

Everyone began talking at once, and a tall girl with pretty curly hair,
who had something important to say, had to raise her voice above the din
before she could be heard. "Let us write a letter and put it into the box
with the gifts," she suggested.