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 mother’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.