ther's sitting
room, where she was sewing.

"Oh, Mother!" cried Sue. "There's a fast wagon out in front--a fast
wagon and----"

"A fast wagon, Sue? What do you mean? Is it stuck fast in the mud?" Mrs.
Brown asked.

"No, she means an express wagon," said Bunny, with a laugh. "I told her
express was fast, Mother."

"Oh, I see," and Mrs. Brown smiled.

"But the express wagon did stop," went on the little boy. "It stopped
here, and Sam and the man took out a big bundle. It's up in our barn.
What is it, Mother?"

"I don't know, Bunny. Something your father sent for, perhaps. He may
tell us what it is when he comes."

"May we go out and look at it?" Sue asked.

"No, dear, not in this rain. Can't you wait until daddy comes home?"

"Yes, but I--I don't want to, Mother."

"Oh, well, we have to do many things in this world that we don't want
to. Now go and play with your dolls, or something. I think daddy will be
home early to-night, on account of the storm. Then he'll tell you what's
in the bundle."

"Does Sam know?" asked Bunny, as he watched the express wagon drive
away.

"Perhaps he does," answered Mrs. Brown.

"Then we can ask him!" exclaimed Sue. "Come on, Bunny!"

"No, dears, you mustn't go out to the barn in this rain. You'd get all
wet."

"I could put on my rubber coat," suggested Bunny.

"And so could I--and my rubber boots," said Sue.

Both children seemed to want very much to know what was in the express
package. But when Mrs. Brown said they could not go out she meant it,
and the more Bunny Brown and his sister Sue teased, the oftener Mrs.
Brown shook her head.

"No, you can't go out and open that bundle," she said. "And if you tease
much more daddy won't even tell you what's in it when he comes home. Be
good children now."

Bunny and Sue did not often tease this way, for they were good children.
But this day was an unpleasant, rainy one. They could not go out to have
fun, because of the rain, and they had played with all their toys,
getting tired of them, one after another.

"Mother, if we can't go out to the barn, could we have our dog, Splash,
in here to play with us?" asked Bunny, after a while. "We could hitch
him to a chair, and make believe it was an express wagon."

"Oh, yes!" cried Sue. "And you could be the driver, Bunny, and you could
leave a package at my house--make believe, you know--and then I wouldn't
know what was in it, and I could guess, and you could guess. We could
p