Now, Bunny Face had never had a secret before in his whole life, and he found that keeping one was not as easy as he had expected. But he did enjoy sing-songing to the rest of us children “I have a secret I won’t tell,” as we all walked to school. But nobody really believed it, for who could have a secret with Katie Duckworth?
As you might know, Bunny Face was up pretty early on Christmas morning, all ready, holding Agnes and watching out the front window. You could hear sleigh bells everywhere and people’s voices calling, “Same to you,” and “Merry Christmas.”
Then came a sleigh, around the corner, and stopped in front of Katie Duckworth’s store. The driver jumped out and ran in with a basket with red ribbons flying and a letter tied to the handle. The letter said “A happy Christmas to Miss Duckworth,” and please to allow her nephew to come and spend the day.
Katie untied the ribbons and looked inside, and there were oranges and nuts that they could see; and so she said “All right” to Bunny Face, who picked up Agnes and said good-by. As they went through the gate, Bunny Face saw wreaths in all the windows and over the big door, and Madam Iceberg was standing there, waving her hand.
“Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!” she said.
And then it really began. First there were all the wreaths, and pine branches over the fireplace, and candles, and right under the Spirit of Christmas there was a trimmed Christmas tree. My, my, such a tree! You never saw the like. But under the tree—toys, toys! toys! Beginning with a velocipede—there was a sled, games, books, skates, a dark lantern. Oh, goodness me! I can’t tell you all the things that there were. And if you’ll believe it, there was the picture of Santa Claus’ house—the very one!
For a minute Bunny Face just couldn’t talk; then he jumped up and down and ran back and forth, pulling Madam Iceberg around by the hand, showing her this one and that one, and how it worked. My, how they laughed at everything. “For Miss Agnes from Bunny Face and Madam Iceberg” was what it said on the letter tied to one Christmas present. And beside the basket and the red cushion was a ball for her to play with. Bunny Face put her in and held her down with both hands till she went to sleep.
“And now, Mr. Bunny Face,” said the lady, “we must go and take care of those other surprises.”
“To the dump?” asked Bunny Face.
“Yes, and on the way back we’ll stop at your Parson’s,” said Madam Iceberg.