“No, that isn’t the surprise,” he answered, as he set the children down inside the fence in front of the house. “Now don’t try to guess any more, or you won’t be able to eat any supper. As soon as we have eaten the surprise will come.”
“Oh, couldn’t we have it first?” asked Bunny.
“Please!” begged Sue.
“No, it will be best to eat first and have the surprise afterward,” their father said. “Otherwise you might not eat.”
“Oh, what can it be?” wondered Sue.
“It surely is a big surprise!” declared Bunny.
Whether Daddy Brown told Mother Brown in a whisper what the surprise was, I do not know. I rather think he did before he sat down to supper. But the children were kept guessing, and you can imagine how impatient they were.
But finally the meal was over and as Mr. Brown looked at his watch and pushed back his chair there came a ring at the front doorbell.
“I’ll go,” said Daddy, as the maid started to answer. “No, you children sit still,” he ordered, shaking his finger at them. “If this is the surprise—and I think it is—I want to introduce you to it in the right way.”
So, more impatient than before, Bunny and Sue kept their seats while their father went into the front hall. They heard him open the door and then a man’s voice asked: