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Show A SURPRISE PARTY l HIVE-AND-THIRTY wounded Tommies coming to lea and m one of them coming to his H death, hut lio doesn't know it," moan- H ed Emily, and waved a knife round Hj her head. H I saw what had happened. All this H bun-baking and cake-making had been H too much for my poor wife. She had H been living in the oven for a week. H J "You're overdone. Lie down and H trv to cet a little nap before they H come," I said soothingly. "Every- H thing's ready." H "Will he die without a sound, or H will ho gurgle?" said Emily, and H brought the knife within an inch of H my nose. H "No one is going to die at our tea- H party, dear," I said, and ducked. H "Not after swallowing that?" shriek- H ed Emily, and lunged at me with the H knife again. H I got it firmly by the handle this H time, and I recognized Emily's special H cake-knife, an instrument wrought to H perfection by long years of service, H sharp as a razor down both sides with H a flexible tip that slithered round a H basin and scooped up the last mor- H sels of candied-peel. H But the flexible tip was gone. I un- H derstood Emily's distraught condition. H You can replace a diamond tiara; H money won't buy a twenty-year-old H cake-knife. H "Try and bear it, dear," I said. H Emily pointed to the table weighed H down with Madeiras and rocks and H almonds and sultanas and gingers. H "It's inside one of them," she said. I H For the moment I failed to grasp H hei" meaning. She explained. "I've H made six dozen. The knife was all H right when I started; a little bent, Hb nothing more. It was when I was H mixing the last that I noticed the tip H was missing." H It was a difficult position. There H was no time to submit the cakes to H the X-rays; the advance party was H streaming through the gate. H "Dear fellows! I wonder which one H it will be," said Emily, and clung H round my neck. H I put her on one side. "I'll manage H it; leave it to me," I said, and went H forward and welcomed our guests. My B mind was working clearly and rapid- H ly, as It always does in a crisis. When H I had got them seated round the tea B table, "My friends," I said, "this isn't H a Christmas party, but my wife H couldn't help indulging in a little H Christmas fun. She's just whispered H to me that she put a surprise in one H of the cakes. I know her. It won't H be an ordinary sort of surprise. I H should advise you all to keep a sharp H lookout. There's a pound (it was H worth a pound to save a hero's throat H from being cut) for the man who finds H anything in his cake which hasn't any H business to be there." H Within five minutes two pebbles, a H tin tack, a chunk of wood and a black H . beetle were on the tableclbth. H J "Do you know that flutter's cost me H I five pounds, and there wasn't a sign B I of your infernal knife after all?" I said H to Emily when they'd gone. I I, - BL" ai.i.")jwmiwiin"iiiii--- ii ii.ii... .1- "I've just found it under the kitchen table," said Emily. "I am thankful." Punch. |