AN APRIL FOOL.

CHAPTER I.

“Have you written it, Nelly?”

“Yes, I have it here in my pocket.  I’ll show it to you when I get a chance.”

“Oh, show it now!  There’s as good a chance now as you’ll have, for the rest of the girls are all on the other side of the room.  Come;” and Lizzy Ryder held out her hand coaxingly.

Nelly sent a quick glance around the school-room, and then took from her pocket a small square envelope.  The envelope was directed to Miss Angela Jocelyn.  Lizzy Ryder gave a little giggle as she read this name; but as she drew forth the note-sheet and read written upon it in a slender pointed handwriting, “Miss Marian Selwyn requests the pleasure of Miss Angela Jocelyn’s company on the evening of April 1st,” her giggle became a smothered shriek, and she said to her cousin,—­

“Oh, Nelly, it’s perfect; she’ll never suspect.  It looks just like Marian Selwyn’s writing.  Wouldn’t it be too good if we could somehow get hold of Angela’s acceptance and keep it back, and have her actually go to the party.  What do you suppose Marian would say to her when she walked in?”

“She wouldn’t say anything, but she’d look so astonished, and she’d be so stiff that Miss Angela would very soon find out she wasn’t very welcome.  But we can’t keep back the note very well, even if we could get hold of it,—­it might get us into trouble, for it would be against the law; but there’s no law against an April Fool letter of our own, and ’twill be just as good fun in the end, for Marian Selwyn, of course, will set Miss Angela right in double quick time after she receives her note.  Oh, I can just imagine the top-lofty style in which she will inform Miss Angela that there must be some mistake.”

“And then, of course, they’ll both find out that somebody’s been April-fooling them.”

“Of course.  But that isn’t going to interfere with our fun.  Miss Angela will be set down by that time just where I want her, when she discovers that her invitation is nothing but an April fool on her.  I wish—­But, hush, somebody’s coming this way;” and in an instant Nelly had whisked into her pocket the note she had written, and the cousins were walking down the room, talking in a loud tone about their lessons.  The “somebody coming” was a very quiet but a very observing girl, who, as she saw the sudden start of Lizzy and Nelly, also caught sight of the little white missive as it was whisked into Nelly’s pocket, and immediately thought,—­

“There’s some mischief going on.  I wonder what it is.”

“That sly Mary Marcy, she’s always spying ’round,” whispered Nelly to her companion, as they passed along.  Then in a high voice, thinking to mislead Mary, she cried, “Oh, Lizzy, now I’ve shown you my composition you must show me yours.”