“I knew it was nothing I had packed,” said Mrs. Horton wonderingly.
But Mr. Horton, who had been leaning over her shoulder to see the box, now rolled over on his back in the grass, shouting with laughter.
“It’s the stove polish!” he half-choked. “What won’t that child do next!”
CHAPTER VI
ON THE WAY
“It’s a s’prise,” Sunny Boy insisted, his lower lip trembling.
Aunt Bessie and Miss Martinson were trying not to laugh. Harriet looked completely mystified. Mr. Horton was wiping his eyes.
Sunny Boy looked at his mother. She wasn’t even smiling. Her clear, direct gaze met his squarely.
“What’s it for, precious?” she asked quietly. “Tell us why you put it in the lunch. You didn’t know it was stove polish, did you?”
“No, ’course not,” returned Sunny eagerly, glad to find some one sensible enough to understand. “I thought it was lic’rish ’cause it smelled so good when I opened the box. An’ it was on the shelf, Mother.”
“I did that closet in kind of a hurry,” admitted Harriet. “I guess plenty of things are not in the right place. And so you thought it was something good to eat, and we could maybe spread it on our bread, did you, Sunny?” Harriet began to laugh. It usually took Harriet a long time to see a joke, and when she did begin to laugh she never stopped very quickly.