"Oh, Sue, look! They're painting this house, and maybe we can get some red or blue paint, to put on my face, when I play Mr. Punch."
"Oh, Bunny Brown! You wouldn't put paint on your face; would you?" demanded Sue.
"Just a little," said Bunny. "Why not?"
"S'posin' you couldn't get it off again?" Sue wanted to know.
"Oh, I could wash it off when I got through playing," Bunny replied. "Come on in, and we'll see if the men will give us a little paint; red, or blue or green."
Outside the house, in front of which the children then stood, were a number of pots of differently colored paint, and some ladders. But there was no paint yet on the outside of the house.
"I guess they're painting inside," Bunny said. "I don't see any of the men out here. Come on, we'll go in; the door is open, Sue."
The front door was open a little way, as the two children could see as they went up the walk. Bunny and Sue knew every house in that part of town, and also knew the persons who lived in them. All the neighbors knew the children, making them welcome every time they saw them.
"There's no one in this house, I 'member now," Sue said. "Miss Duncan used to live here, but she moved away."
"Then I guess the men are painting it over all nice inside to get it ready for someone else to live in," remarked Bunny. "There isn't anyone here, Sue," he added, as his voice echoed through the empty house. "Even the painters have gone."