"Indeed he has not!" said her mother. "We have the nicest kind of a surprise for you, but we were afraid you were going to sleep all day."
"Oh, what is it? What is the surprise, mother?" cried both little girls at once.
"It is something splendid, and it will last a whole week, perhaps longer," said their mother. "Each morning you shall hear about the surprise for that day, but only for one day at a time."
"Please tell us what it is for to-day," begged Molly. "What fun it will be to have a new surprise every day!"
"Well," said their mother, "how would you like to have a picnic dinner to-day?"
"Oh, we should like it better than anything else we can think of!" exclaimed May. "But I thought we were going to Pompeii to-day."
"We are," said their mother. "We shall have our picnic in the prettiest place we can find in old Pompeii. People do not live in the ruined city now, for the houses have no roofs. But father says they have the cunningest little inhabitants he ever saw. They are part of the surprise, so I must not tell about them now."
"Is the picnic basket ready, mother?" asked Molly. "Is it brimful of good things to eat?"
"Yes, everything is ready, and Pietro will take us to the station just as soon as you have had your breakfast."