`` I had n't the faintest idea what Miss Allen would like so I just guessed wildly . I got her a lace handkerchief and a big bottle of perfume and a painted photograph frame -- and I 'll stick my own photo in it for fun . That was really all I could afford . Christmas purchases have left my purse dreadfully lean . '' `` I got her a glove-box and a pin tray , '' said Belle , `` and Olive got her a calendar and Whittier 's poems . And besides we are going to give her half of that big plummy fruit cake Mother sent us from home . I 'm sure she has n't tasted anything so delicious for years , for fruit cakes do n't grow on Chestnut Terrace and she never goes anywhere else for a meal . '' Beth had bought a pretty cup and saucer and said she meant to give one of her pretty water-colours too . Nellie , true to her reputation , had invested in a big box of chocolate creams , a gorgeously striped candy cane , a bag of oranges , and a brilliant lampshade of rose-coloured crepe paper to top off with . `` It makes such a lot of show for the money , '' she explained . `` I am bankrupt , like Jean . '' `` Well , we 've got a lot of pretty things , '' said Jean in a tone of satisfaction . `` Now we must do them up nicely . Will you wrap them in tissue paper , girls , and tie them with baby ribbon -- here 's a box of it -- while I write that letter ? '' While the others chatted over their parcels Jean wrote her letter , and Jean could write delightful letters . She had a decided talent in that respect , and her correspondents all declared her letters to be things of beauty and joy forever . She put her best into Miss Allen 's Christmas letter . Since then she has written many bright and clever things , but I do not believe she ever in her life wrote anything more genuinely original and delightful than that letter . Besides , it breathed the very spirit of Christmas , and all the girls declared that it was splendid . `` You must all sign it now , '' said Jean , `` and I 'll put it in one of those big envelopes ; and , Nellie , wo n't you write her name on it in fancy letters ? ''
Which Nellie proceeded XXXXX do , and furthermore embellished the envelope by a border of chubby cherubs , dancing hand in hand around it and a sketch of No. 16 Chestnut Terrace in the corner in lieu of a stamp .
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