CONNIE’S birthday came on Thursday. The little girl rolled out of bed and went down to breakfast feeling rather blue.

“Happy birthday, dear,” said her mother, giving her a kiss.

“Why, Mother,” laughed Connie, suddenly feeling quite cheerful, “I thought you had forgotten. And Daddy too!”

“Look beside your plate if you think that,” teased her father.

Connie ran into the breakfast room. Beside her plate was a small package wrapped in tissue paper.

“It’s a birthday present, isn’t it?” she said, untying the pink ribbon. Of course she knew it was.

“A gift for the nicest little girl in the world,” declared her mother, smiling.

Connie couldn’t guess what her parents had given her. She pulled away the tissue paper and a ring popped out. On it was a design of a dancing Brownie, and her own initials.

42 “Oh, a Brownie ring!” cried Connie, doing a dance of her own on the carpet. “Just what I wanted!”

Connie was very proud of her new birthday ring. She showed it to the mailman when he brought the morning letters, and to the Brownies at school.

Only one thing bothered Connie. She had received no package from her Grandmother and Grandfather Williams. When she returned home at three o’clock, she asked her mother if a gift had arrived.

“Not yet, Connie.”

“Do you suppose they forgot my birthday, Mother?”

Mrs. Williams replied she was quite certain they hadn’t. She thought the package possibly had been delayed in the mail and might arrive the next day.

“But tomorrow won’t be my birthday,” said Connie. “I would so much rather have the present today.”

“Tell me, has Veve seen your new Brownie ring?” asked her mother quickly.

“Not yet,” Connie replied, wondering why her mother had asked the question.

“You may go over for a while,” suggested Mrs. Williams. “But don’t stay longer than half an hour.”

At the McGuire home, Veve acted almost as if43 she had expected Connie. She wore a bright new pink gingham dress, and her dark curls had been brushed until they shone. However, she still had a trace of her cold.

“Why are you so dressed up, Veve?” Connie asked curiously. Usually Veve paid little attention to her clothes and liked to wear jeans with an old sweater.

“You’ll find out later,” laughed Veve. “Maybe I’m going somewhere.”

Connie showed Veve the new Brownie ring. Veve tried it on her own finger and then said she would rather have a bracelet for her birthday.

“What else did you get?” she asked.

“That’s all,” Connie admitted. “My Grandfather and Grandmother Williams forgot.”

“Maybe you’ll get something more later on,” hinted Veve.

For half an hour the two girls played together. Connie kept talking about the Brownies and their good times. She didn’t intend to annoy Veve, but she scarcely could keep from thinking about Miss Gordon’s “surprise.”

“Now what do you suppose she meant?” she asked aloud. “Wouldn’t it be grand if all the Brownies could go on a trip?”

“It’s four o’clock,” said Veve quickly. She had44 been watching the clock. “Let’s go over to your house.”

Arm in arm, the girls crossed the yard. Connie started toward the kitchen door, only to have Veve catch her hand and pull her toward the front porch.

Even then Connie didn’t suspect a thing. She opened the door and stood still. The living room fairly overflowed with her schoolmates.

All the Brownies were there, Jane, Rosemary, Eileen, Belinda and Sunny, whose smile stretched from ear to ear. Several other classmates also had been invited to the party. Miss Gordon was in the kitchen, helping Mrs. Williams make fancy sandwiches.

“Happy birthday, Connie!” everyone shouted. “Surprise! Surprise!”

Connie really was surprised. For a moment she couldn’t say a word.

“I knew about it all the time,” declared Veve, “but I didn’t dare tell. And here’s something for you.”

Although it wasn’t time to offer gifts or unwrap packages, she thrust a tissue-wrapped box into Connie’s hand. All the other girls had presents for her too.

“You see, we didn’t forget,” laughed Veve. “We were only waiting for the party to start.”

45 The girls played games which Miss Gordon directed. Connie’s mother brought in a huge paper pie with strings attached. Each girl pulled out her fortune.

“Mine says I’m going on a long trip!” announced Eileen, reading her slip. “Oh, Miss Gordon, does that mean just me, or all the Brownies?”

“Tell us the surprise,” the other Brownies chorused.

But Miss Gordon only smiled and said not a word.

When the party was nearly over Mrs. Williams served sandwiches, ice cream and cake. Each little girl received a paper hat and a horn that made a loud toot.

Then it came time for Connie to open her presents. Jane had given her a nylon hairbrush. Belinda’s gift was a pair of Brownie woolen sox while both Sunny and Eileen gave handkerchiefs with the same Brownie design. Rosemary had shopped a long while to find a pretty mirror.

Veve’s present was a bright red hair ribbon. The other girls gave an assortment of books, pins and games.

“Such wonderful gifts,” declared Connie, opening them one at a time. She thanked everyone. “I’ve never had a nicer birthday!”

46 “Our Brownie troop soon will have a birthday,” Miss Gordon reminded the girls. “Then we must celebrate again.”

Connie liked best of all the gifts with Brownie emblems, but she was too polite to say so. She did not show that any present pleased her more than another.

At five o’clock the party was over. One by one the girls went home, until only Veve and the Brownies were left. They offered to help Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams straighten up and carry the dirty plates to the kitchen.

“Did you have a nice time, Connie?” asked her mother.

“Oh, yes, Mother! This has been my very nicest party—only—”

Connie started to mention again that her Grandmother and Grandfather Williams had forgotten to send even a birthday card.

Before she could speak, her father’s car rolled onto the driveway with a loud crunch of gravel. A moment later he came into the house, carrying a large package.

“Special delivery for Miss Constance Williams,” he called in a loud voice. “Anyone here by that name?”

Connie laughed aloud, for although her name47 really was Constance, no one ever thought to call her by it.

The package was long, narrow, and very large.

“Is it from my Grandmother Williams?” Connie asked eagerly.

She tried to untie the cords on the package but they were very firm. Her father finally had to cut them with his pocket knife.

While the Brownies and Veve gathered around, Connie unwrapped two layers of heavy brown paper. Next she removed a covering of tissue paper.

Two long, narrow boards with leather straps clattered to the floor.

“Why, what are they?” asked Connie. She could not hide her disappointment.

“Skis,” announced Veve. “But how can you use them when there isn’t any snow?”

“I’m afraid Grandmother forgot about our mild weather,” admitted Mrs. Williams. Then to cheer Connie, she added: “Before spring, we’ll surely have another snow.”

Connie gazed out into the muddy yard and couldn’t say a word. The other Brownies knew just how discouraged she felt.

The room was very quiet. Then, unexpectedly, Miss Gordon took a letter from her pocket.

48 “Girls,” she said, “I know this isn’t a Brownie meeting, so perhaps I should wait. But I do have important news.”

“Tell us,” chorused the Brownies.

“You remember the question I asked you to think over?”

“Oh, yes,” agreed the Brownies. The skis now were forgotten and everyone listened hard.

Veve was the only one who acted as if she did not care to hear the news. She pretended to be looking at Connie’s presents on the table.

“Girls,” said Miss Gordon, coming directly to the point, “how would you like to spend a week at Snow Valley in Minnesota?”

For a second, the room was absolutely still. Then the girls began to chatter excitedly. Miss Gordon had to hold up her hand in the Brownie signal for silence.

“Before anyone answers, I’ll explain the entire plan,” declared the troop leader. “I haven’t told you about it before, because I was uncertain how matters would work out.”

“Please, Miss Gordon, tell us now,” pleaded Sunny.

“As you may know, my Grandmother and Grandfather Gordon have a farm at Snow Valley,” the49 teacher explained. “The house is large and there are beautiful snow-covered hills for coasting and skiing.”

“And we’re all invited to spend a week there?” Connie asked, her eyes shining.

“Yes, Grandmother wrote today saying she has room for six little Brownies. I’ve already talked to your parents, who have given their consent providing you care to go.”

“Oh, we do! We do!” cried Jane, capering across the floor.

“Will it mean being away from home on Christmas?” asked Eileen soberly. “I don’t think I would like that.”

“This is the plan,” explained Miss Gordon. “If we make the trip we will go by train, leaving the day school vacation starts. Grandfather Gordon will meet us at the station with his big bobsled. We’ll stay at the farm a week and be joined by your parents for Christmas.”

“You mean everyone will be there?” repeated Connie, looking relieved. “Oh, I’d like that! May I go, Mother?”

“I’ve already given my consent,” said her mother.

“We’ll have a wonderful week of winter sports, climaxed by a grand Christmas reunion,” declared50 the leader of the Brownies. “However, I realize some of you never have been away from home for an entire week. So, I’ll not ask anyone to decide now.”

“I’d never be homesick!” insisted Sunny. “If Mother has said ‘yes’, I want to go!”

“So do I!” cried Rosemary.

“Me too,” chimed in Eileen, though she looked a trifle troubled. She never had been away from home longer than two days at a time and wondered if she might be homesick.

“I’ll be there with bells when that old conductor yells: ‘Snow Valley!’” laughed Belinda.

Connie strapped on her new skis and skated across the living room rug.

“I’ll take these with me!” she cried. “Oh, we’ll have a wonderful time in Minnesota!”

Eagerly, the girls plied Miss Gordon with questions. They wanted to know how deep the snows were at the valley, how far the Gordon farm was from the station, and what luggage they should take.

Everyone was so interested in hearing about Snow Valley that for a while no one gave a thought to Veve.

She hadn’t said a word, because, of course, she wasn’t a member of the Brownie troop.

51 Finally, when the other girls had quieted down, she edged toward the door.

“I—I guess I’ll go home,” she said in a limp little voice.

“It’s been nice having you at the party,” declared Connie’s mother, for she saw Veve was about to cry.

“Oh, Veve!” cried Connie. “I wish you were a Brownie so you could go with us to Snow Valley!”

Veve started to reply and choked on the words. She ran out the door, letting it close hard behind her.

Miss Gordon then was sorry that she had mentioned the trip in the little girl’s presence.

“It was thoughtless of me,” she apologized, “because naturally Veve would like to go with us. I only wish she were a member of the troop.”

“Perhaps she’ll join before the Christmas holidays,” said Connie hopefully. “I’ll ask her.”

Miss Gordon smiled and shook her head.

“We want Veve to belong to the troop for its own sake and not because we are planning an outing. Besides, even if she should join now, I’m afraid we couldn’t take her along without making special arrangements.”

“Why is that, Miss Gordon?” Connie inquired.

52 “Grandmother Gordon has accommodations for only six Brownies.”

“Then Veve can’t go?”

“I don’t see how she can,” Miss Gordon replied regretfully.

No one said any more about the matter until the Brownies were putting on their wraps in the hallway.

Then Jane, tucking yellow braids under the hood of her snowsuit, remarked:

“It serves Veve right! She should have joined the Brownies long ago.”

“That’s true,” declared Belinda, and the others agreed.

All, that is, except Connie, who knew Veve would be very lonesome if her friends went away during the Christmas holidays.

The next few days at Rosedale passed quickly. Connie and the other Brownies dashed to and from school with open coats flapping in the December breeze, for the weather had turned quite warm.

“How cold will it be in Minnesota?” Belinda asked Miss Gordon.

“So cold you may turn into a big icicle,” laughed the teacher. “But if you do, Grandmother Gordon53 will know how to thaw you out at the kitchen woodstove.”

Belinda never before had made a train trip longer than twenty miles. She was excited and a little worried. Another matter troubled her too.

“Are you sure we’ll get our presents and see our parents on Christmas Day?” she asked the Brownie leader.

“According to the plan, your parents expect to arrive at Grandfather Gordon’s farm no later than the twenty-fourth,” replied the teacher. “Of course, something could go wrong.”

All the Brownies were so thrilled at the thought of going to Snow Valley, they could talk of little else. They were kept busy too, preparing for the journey.

Buttons needed to be sewed on and suitcases brought down from attics. Nearly every day after school Connie went downtown with her mother to buy little things she would need on the trip.

So busy were all the Brownie Scouts that they scarcely had time to talk to Veve. However, Connie noticed that her playmate looked very unhappy.

And then, on the final day before school was to be dismissed for the holidays, she came upon Veve sobbing in the cloakroom.

54 “Why, Veve!” she said in surprise. “Is anything wrong?” She thought perhaps the teacher had sent the little girl to the cloakroom as a punishment.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Veve replied, dabbing at her eyes.

“Yes, there is too,” Connie insisted. She slipped an arm about the other girl’s waist. “Tell me!”

Veve shook her head. Pulling away, she ran down the hall.

Miss Gordon entered the cloakroom just as the child darted through the doorway. She asked Connie why Veve was so upset.

“She wouldn’t say,” replied Connie, picking up a coat Veve carelessly had brushed to the floor. “I think though, she’s disappointed because she can’t go to Snow Valley with the Brownies.”

Now Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams already had guessed that Veve longed to go with the troop, and had discussed the matter with Mrs. McGuire.

So, with scarcely any hesitation, Miss Gordon was able to say: “I think it can be arranged.”

Connie wondered if she had heard correctly. Had the Brownie leader actually said Veve might go to Snow Valley?

“Only this afternoon I learned that Belinda will be unable to make the trip,” Miss Gordon explained.55 “Grandmother Gordon is expecting six little girls, so perhaps we can include Veve.”

Now this was astonishing news for Connie. Though she had noticed that Belinda’s desk had been vacant all day, she hadn’t known why she was absent from school.

“Belinda has a severe cold,” Miss Gordon explained. “It’s nothing serious, but her mother feels she should remain at home.”

Connie was sorry to learn that Belinda would be unable to go with the troop to Snow Valley. On the other hand, she was pleased that Veve might be able to take her place. “Of course, Veve isn’t a Brownie,” Miss Gordon remarked, thinking aloud. “She might not care to go with the troop. Or she might not have a good time.”

“Oh, I’m sure she would have a wonderful holiday!” cried Connie. “When will you invite her?”

“I’ll talk with her mother again tonight,” Miss Gordon promised. “Yes, I am hopeful everything can be arranged.”

Early the next morning, Connie knew the Brownie leader had talked to Mrs. McGuire, for Veve came flying over to the Williams’ home. She squeezed through the bars of the back yard gate and banged hard on the kitchen door.

56 Connie, who was finishing her breakfast, ran to let her in.

“Oh, Connie, guess what?” she cried, stomping into the kitchen. In her excitement, she hadn’t bothered to put on her coat or a cap. “I’m going to be a substitute Brownie!”

“And go to Snow Valley?”

“That’s right! How did you know?”

“Miss Gordon told me. Oh, Veve, I’m so glad!” Connie gave her an affectionate hug. “We’ll have a grand time, and maybe—”

Connie started to say that perhaps before the girls returned to Rosedale, Veve would decide to join the troop. Veve was so excited, however, she cut her short.

“Can’t stop to talk now,” she declared, whirling around to open the door. “My suitcase isn’t packed!”

“Miss Gordon says not to take too much luggage,” Connie advised her friend. “I’m packing two Brownie uniforms and a pair of sweaters and skirts. And one dress for nice in case we have a party.”

“Not your new skis?”

“Oh, yes,” laughed Connie, “but I’ll wear them on my feet, not my back!”

“Do you suppose I could take my sled along?”

57 “Not unless you check it in the baggage car, Veve. Anyway, Miss Gordon said there will be sleds at the farm. She told the Brownies that Grandfather Gordon made a bobsled that would carry six persons at one time!”

“Connie, is the kitchen door open?” Mrs. Williams called from the breakfast room. She could feel a cold blast of air.

“I’m going now,” said Veve. “Good-bye, Connie. See you later after I’m packed!”

She ran off home, allowing the door to bang hard behind her.

“Dear me,” remarked Mrs. Williams as Connie came to the breakfast table. “Veve is so high-spirited, I wonder if Miss Gordon won’t be kept busy looking after six Brownies.”

“Five Brownies and a substitute,” corrected Connie, reaching for a tall glass of orange juice. “Veve may make more trouble than all the others, but she’s lots of fun.”

Early the next morning, all the Brownies except Belinda were taken to the railroad station by their parents. The luggage was checked straight through to Deerford, the nearest town to Snow Valley. Miss Gordon took charge of the tickets, but allowed each girl to keep her own baggage check.

58 “Here comes the train!” shouted Veve suddenly.

Connie began to feel shivery inside. For just a minute she wasn’t certain she cared to leave her parents and travel to Minnesota.

“Have a good time, dear,” said her mother, stooping to kiss her. “It will only be a few days until we come for you.”

Other parents were saying good-bye to Rosemary, Jane, Eileen, Veve, and Sunny. Then the train rumbled into the station.

“Hurry or we’ll be left,” urged Veve as passengers began to alight.

“We have plenty of time,” replied Miss Gordon. “Please, girls, don’t shove.”

Although the Brownie leader said “girls,” she really meant Veve, who was trying to bore a hole through the crowd.

After all the passengers were off the train, Miss Gordon went aboard with her six charges. Mr. Williams helped her find seats for everyone.

“I think you will be quite comfortable,” said Mr. Williams. “Your train is due to arrive in Deerford at seven tonight.”

“Oh, Daddy, hurry and get off before the train starts,” Connie said anxiously. “You might be taken along.”

  “I have plenty of time,” he replied. “But I’ll say goodbye now.”

He kissed Connie and left the car.

Connie and Veve, who shared a seat, pressed their faces against the car window. Their mothers were standing near the train, watching.

“Goodbye!” the girls called out together.

They waved from inside the window. Their mothers waved in return and blew kisses. Then the train began to move.

Connie and Veve and the Brownies were on their way to Minnesota.