`` Well , that 's cool , '' said Laurie to himself , `` to have a picnic and never ask me ! They ca n't be going in the boat , for they have n't got the key . Perhaps they forgot it . I 'll take it to them , and see what 's going on . '' Though possessed of half a dozen hats , it took him some time to find one , then there was a hunt for the key , which was at last discovered in his pocket , so that the girls were quite out of sight when he leaped the fence and ran after them . Taking the shortest way to the boathouse , he waited for them to appear , but no one came , and he went up the hill to take an observation . A grove of pines covered one part of it , and from the heart of this green spot came a clearer sound than the soft sigh of the pines or the drowsy chirp of the crickets . `` Here 's a landscape ! '' thought Laurie , peeping through the bushes , and looking wide-awake and good-natured already . It was a rather pretty little picture , for the sisters sat together in the shady nook , with sun and shadow flickering over them , the aromatic wind lifting their hair and cooling their hot cheeks , and all the little wood people going on with their affairs as if these were no strangers but old friends . Meg sat upon her cushion , sewing daintily with her white hands , and looking as fresh and sweet as a rose in her pink dress among the green . Beth was sorting the cones that lay thick under the hemlock near by , for she made pretty things with them . Amy was sketching a group of ferns , and Jo was knitting as she read aloud . A shadow passed over the boy 's face as he watched them , feeling that he ought to go away because uninvited ; yet lingering because home seemed very lonely and this quiet party in the woods most attractive to his restless spirit . He stood so still that a squirrel , busy with its harvesting , ran down a pine close beside him , saw him suddenly and skipped back , scolding so shrilly that Beth looked up , espied the wistful face behind the birches , and beckoned with a reassuring smile . `` May I come in , please ? Or shall I be a bother ? '' he asked , advancing slowly . Meg lifted her eyebrows , but Jo scowled at her defiantly and said at once , `` Of course you may . We should have asked you before , only we thought you would n't care for such a girl 's game as this . ''
`` I always like your games , but if XXXXX does n't want me , I 'll go away . ''
Amy Beth Jo Laurie Meg boathouse chirp flickering hemlock nook