With the help of father and Mary Jane, the picnic dinner was planned. Each girl was to take a basket containing her own sandwiches, a paper plate, a knife, fork and spoon and cup; and then one more thing to eat—and enough of that one thing for everybody. There was to be cake, and cheese and pickles and fruit and eggs and many good things.
"And will Mary Jane take a basket?" asked Alice.
"Indeed she will," replied Mrs. Merrill, "and it will have something good in it, you can count on that."
"Oh, what will it be?" asked Alice eagerly.
"It will be a surprise," said Mrs. Merrill, laughing. "No, there's no use asking, it's a surprise! Now you run along so as to give these slips of instructions to each girl before school begins." And not another word would she say.
After Alice was safely out of the house, Mary Jane and her mother had a good laugh over their surprise.
"Won't she be pleased?" said Mary Jane happily.
"And won't she be surprised!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill. "I thought surely she would ask to take some and then she might have guessed! Now, dear, you help me clear up this lunch table, then you run upstairs and take your rest while I bake the cake. After you are dressed, you'd better run down to the grocery and order your surprise so they surely have enough on hand in the morning. I'll write what you want on this slip of paper."
So Mary Jane, who always loved to help in big folks fashion, tidied up the table. First she put away all the clean silver and napkins. Then she propped open the swinging doors that led through the butler's pantry. Then, with the way clear to the kitchen, she carried out all the plates and glasses and cups that were to be washed. After the dishes were all out, she shook the crumbs off the little blue doilies mother used for lunches and put them away neatly in the drawer. Mrs. Merrill thought that was a great deal of help for a little girl her age to give.
At three o'clock she skipped down to the grocery at the corner and showed him the paper on which Mrs. Merrill had written the order for the morning.