ed to pick up all the things with which he had been playing. His
mother had always made him do this--put away his toys when he was
through.

"What's the next letter, Sue?" Bunny Brown asked.

Sue was not quite sure of it. She put her little head to one side so she
might see better. Just then a man jumped off the seat, and splashed
through a muddy puddle as he walked around to the end of the wagon.

"Oh, Bunny!" Sue cried. "The man's going to bring something here, I
guess. He's taking out a big bundle."

"Maybe it's a wagon from the store," said Bunny. And, as he looked out
through the window glass, pressing his nose flat against it, as his
sister Sue had done, he spelled out the word:

EXPRESS

"That's an express wagon, Sue," said Bunny.

"What's express?" Sue wanted to know.

"That means when you're in a hurry," Bunny said. "You know, when we're
playing train, sometimes I'm an express train, and I go awful fast."

"Yes, I 'member that," said Sue. "Once, when we hitched our dog, Splash,
up to our express wagon, he went so fast he spilled me out."

"Well, that's express," Bunny went on. "When you went out of the wagon
so fast you were an express."

"I don't like express, then," said Sue. "I like to go slower. But that
can't be an express wagon, then, Bunny."

"Why not?"

"'Cause that's not goin' fast. It's jest standin' still."

"Oh, well, when it does go, it goes fast. That's an express wagon, all
right. Somebody's sent us something by express. Oh, Sue, I wonder what
it is?"

Sue shook her head. She did not know, and she could not guess. She was
watching the man out in the rain--the expressman who was trying to get
something out of the back of his wagon. It was a big bundle, that was
sure, because Bunny and Sue could see the end of it.

"I wonder if it's a present for us?" Sue asked.

"It can't be a present," answered Bunny. "It isn't Christmas. Don't you
remember, Sue, we had Christmas at Aunt Lu's city home."

"So we did, Bunny. But it's _something_, anyhow."

That was certain, for now the man was pulling a very large bundle out of
his wagon. It was so large that he could not carry it all alone, and he
called for Sam, the stable man, to come and help him. With the help of
Sam, the expressman carried the package back into the barn.

"Oh, I wonder what it is?" said Sue.

"We'll go and ask mother," suggested Bunny. "She'll know."

Together, the children fairly ran upstairs to their mo