“We rattle when we walk,” said Twaddles, “but I guess that is all right.”

They found some pictures that interested them, in the papers remaining on the floor and they stayed in the cellar till, to their surprise, they heard quick feet running overhead and Meg’s voice in the kitchen.

“It must be noon!” said Dot, “Come on, we have to hurry.”

And as they started upstairs, Norah opened the door and called down: 

“Lunch is ready—­are you still playing in the cellar?”

Mother Blossom and Aunt Polly were just sitting down at the dining-room table and Meg and Bobby, who had been upstairs to wash their hands, were in the hall, when the twins marched through the kitchen and slipped into their chairs.  That is, they tried to sit down, but something seemed to be wrong.

“What on earth—­” began Aunt Polly, staring.

“My dears!  What have you been doing?” Mother Blossom gasped.

And Norah glanced in from the kitchen murmuring: 

“Is it entirely crazy they are at last?” while Meg and Bobby shouted with laughter and turned Dot and Twaddles round and round to get a good look at them.

“What have you been doing?” Mother Blossom repeated.

“Why, we’re ready for the sleigh ride,” explained Twaddles.  “Paper is awfully warm, Mother.  Sam said so.”

“It keeps the wind out,” Dot added.

“You look like bundles of waste paper,” Bobby chuckled.  “You’d better not go out on the street that way, or when the trash cart comes, the man will pick you up and throw you on top.”

“I do think you have more paper than you need,” said Aunt Polly gently.

And though Twaddles and Dot did not want to admit it, they had already begun to feel that way themselves.  They could not sit down with any comfort and when Bobby ran out in the hall and brought in Dot’s coat, she found she couldn’t get it on at all.

“You’ll be warm enough without the paper, dears,” Mother Blossom said positively.  “Plenty warm and much more comfortable.  Let Bobby and Meg help you get unwrapped and then hurry and eat lunch before it is cold.”

So Bobby and Meg untied the knots in the String and the papers slipped to the floor.  The twins breathed a sigh of relief and became interested in the creamed potatoes.

“But don’t forget to take the papers down to the cellar and put them back on the pile, neatly,” cautioned Mother Blossom.

Bobby and Meg helped Dot and Twaddles take back the papers and then it was time to put on their coats and sweaters.  Twaddles was just stamping his feet into his rubbers—­he always shook the house, Norah declared, when he put on his rubbers—­when the sound of jingling sleighbells was heard outside.

“There’s Sam!  There’s the sleigh!” shrieked the four little Blossoms, scattering kisses between Mother Blossom and Aunt Polly and rushing for the door.