But Charlie never _could_ catch Topsy. Whenever he nearly caught him, Topsy would just climb up a tree, and he’d climb _way_ up and peek down at Charlie through the branches.
So Charlie and Topsy and Bingo played together in the garden till Charlie’s Daddy came home. Then, of course, Charlie had to show his Daddy the beautiful villages he had made, and the way each one had a railway station, and how his train ran up and down the line between the stations, just like a real train, and carried packages and mail and passengers.
His Daddy was _most_ interested and de-light-ed. He was _so_ interested and _de-light-ed_ that he sat straight down on the floor, and began to play with the villages himself. But Bingo and Topsy had to be left in the garden while Charlie and his Daddy were playing with the villages, because they wanted to play also, and _their_ idea of playing with the villages was to knock down _all_ the houses and _all_ the trees!
Well, Charlie and his Daddy played together till supper was ready. Then Charlie’s Mother said, “I have been making preserves all day, and now we will eat some for supper. I have made plum jam and orange marmalade.” Charlie and his Daddy tasted the plum jam and the orange marmalade--and they both were _delicious_.
And what do you think? Charlie’s Auntie had finished her new dress and she wore it down to supper--and it _did_ look beautiful.
So Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie all had a nice day after all, even though it was such a rainy, disagreeable kind of a day. And Topsy and Bingo and Jane had enjoyed the day too!
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.