That is why there was no birthday surprise for you at breakfast.

But you'll soon be a very happy little girl, for this surprise is something you have been wanting for more than a year." How suddenly the whole world had changed for the Little Colonel! The sunshine had never seemed so golden, the locust blooms so deliciously sweet.

Her birthday had not been forgotten, after all.

Mrs.Sherman's chair was wheeled to the table on the balcony, and Lloyd took her seat with sparkling eyes.

She wondered what the surprise could be, and felt sure that Papa Jack would not tell her until the cake was cut, and the last birthday wish made with the blowing of the birthday candles.
He had intended to save his news to serve with the dessert, but when he questioned Lloyd as to how she had spent the day, and laughed at her for reading the old tale of Marguerite's wonder-ball so many times, his secret escaped him before he knew it.