A warning look from her mother checked any further remarks , and the whole family ate in heroic silence , till Mr. March mildly observed , `` salad was one of the favorite dishes of the ancients , and Evelyn ... '' Here a general explosion of laughter cut short the ` history of salads ' , to the great surprise of the learned gentleman . `` Bundle everything into a basket and send it to the Hummels . Germans like messes . I 'm sick of the sight of this , and there 's no reason you should all die of a surfeit because I 've been a fool , '' cried Amy , wiping her eyes . `` I thought I should have died when I saw you two girls rattling about in the what-you-call-it , like two little kernels in a very big nutshell , and Mother waiting in state to receive the throng , '' sighed Jo , quite spent with laughter . `` I 'm very sorry you were disappointed , dear , but we all did our best to satisfy you , '' said Mrs. March , in a tone full of motherly regret . `` I am satisfied . I 've done what I undertook , and it 's not my fault that it failed . I comfort myself with that , '' said Amy with a little quiver in her voice . `` I thank you all very much for helping me , and I 'll thank you still more if you wo n't allude to it for a month , at least . '' No one did for several months , but the word ` fete ' always produced a general smile , and Laurie 's birthday gift to Amy was a tiny coral lobster in the shape of a charm for her watch guard . CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN LITERARY LESSONS Fortune suddenly smiled upon Jo , and dropped a good luck penny in her path . Not a golden penny , exactly , but I doubt if half a million would have given more real happiness then did the little sum that came to her in this wise . Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room , put on her scribbling suit , and ` fall into a vortex ' , as she expressed it , writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul , for till that was finished she could find no peace . Her ` scribbling suit ' consisted of a black woolen pinafore on which she could wipe her pen at will , and a cap of the same material , adorned with a cheerful red bow , into which she bundled her hair when the decks were cleared for action . This cap was a beacon to the inquiring eyes of her family , who during these periods kept their distance , merely popping in their heads semi-occasionally to ask , with interest , `` Does genius burn , Jo ? '' They did not always venture even to ask this question , but took an observation of the cap , and judged accordingly . If this expressive article of dress was drawn low upon the forehead , it was a sign that hard work was going on , in exciting moments it was pushed rakishly askew , and when despair seized the author it was plucked wholly off , and cast upon the floor . At such times the intruder silently withdrew , and not until the red bow was seen gaily erect upon the gifted brow , did anyone dare address Jo . She did not think herself a genius by any means , but when the writing fit came on , she gave herself up to it with entire abandon , and led a blissful life , unconscious of want , care , or bad weather , while she sat safe and happy in an imaginary world , full of friends almost as real and dear to her as any in the flesh .
Sleep forsook her eyes , meals stood untasted , day and night were all too short to enjoy the happiness which blessed her only at such XXXXX , and made these hours worth living , even if they bore no other fruit .
decks fault friends genius look one periods sum times word