Freddie promised that he would, and then the hiding game went on.  Only Freddie, you may be sure, did not look behind the piano again, and no one hid there.

“Oh, your party was perfectly lovely, Nan!” said the girls and boys when they had finished their games, and had eaten the good things Mrs. Bobbsey set on the table.

“Wasn’t the cake good?” asked Freddie, looking as though he wanted a second piece.

“Indeed it was, dear,” said Ellen Moore.

“We helped Nan make it,” declared Flossie.  “Didn’t we, Nan?”

“Oh, yes, you helped some—­by cleaning out the dishes.”

“And Snap nearly made Nan spill the cake when she was putting it in the oven,” went on Freddie.  “Only we helped hold him; didn’t we, Nan?”

“Yes, you certainly helped there.”

At last the party was over, and Nan’s cake, as well as the other good things, was all eaten up.  Then the children went home.

About a week after this the postman left some letters at the home of the Bobbsey twins.  Mrs. Bobbsey smiled when she read one, and when Bert and Nan, Flossie and Freddie came home from school their mother said to them: 

“I have a surprise for you.  See if you can guess what it is.”

“Freddie and I are going to have a party!” guessed Flossie.

“No, dear.  No more parties right away.”

“We’re going on a visit!” guessed Nan.

“No indeed.  We just came back from one.”

“Then some one is coming here,” guessed Bert.

“That’s it,” his mother answered.  “Uncle William Minturn and Aunt Emily, from Ocean Cliff, are coming to pay us a little visit.”

“And is Cousin Dorothy coming, too?” Nan asked.

“Yes, they will all be here in a few days now.”

“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Nan, clapping her hands.  “We shall have such fun!”

“And can I have fun with you, too?” asked Flossie.

“Yes, dear,” Nan promised.

“I wish Dorothy were a boy,” put in Bert.  “Of course I like her, but I can’t have any fun with her.  I wish Cousin Harry would come on from Meadow Brook.  Then we could have a good time.”

“You had a good time with Harry this Summer,” suggested Mrs. Bobbsey.

“I like Dorothy,” said Freddie, “and I’m glad she’s coming ’cause I want to ask her something very much.”

“What is it?” inquired Bert

“It’s a secret,” and Freddie looked very wise and important.

A few days later Mr. and Mrs. Minturn and their daughter Dorothy came from the seashore to pay a visit to the Bobbsey family.

Of course Bert was glad to see Dorothy, and was very nice to her, taking his cousin and Nan down to the store to buy some ice cream.  But as Bert was a boy, and liked to play boys’ games, Dorothy was better suited to Nan and Flossie than she was to Bert.

Freddie, however, seemed to be especially pleased that his cousin from the seashore had come on a visit.  He watched his chance to have a talk with her alone, and the first thing he asked was: