_And inside the parcel was a cinder._ We certainly looked very foolish as we stood before our present.

I do not think any of the people we had taken in had looked so thoroughly and completely so.

We were both on the eve of crying, and both ended by laughing.

Then Polly--in those trenchant tones which recalled Aunt Maria forcibly to one's mind--said, "Well! we quite deserve it." The "parcel-post" was discontinued.
We had no doubt as to who had played us this trick.

It was the old gentleman next door.