But after supper Grandfather sat down to look at his
paper. And as he spread it out before him he
suddenly chuckled to himself.
“The very thing!” he said, “the
very thing! Why didn’t I think of that
before?” Then he looked over at the droopy-eyed
little folks sitting on the window seat. “But
I suppose you wouldn’t care to go?”
“Go where?” exclaimed both children in
a breath. “Where, Grandfather?”
“What you talking about, Father?” asked
Grandmother.
Instead of answering, Grandfather passed his paper
over to her and pointed to where he had been reading.
Grandmother laughed and nodded. “Yes,
if you want to,” she said, “but they’d
better be going to bed in a hurry if they’re
going to do all that to-morrow!”
“Tell us! Tell us!” cried Mary Jane
eagerly.
“Not a word,” laughed Grandfather.
“Not a word,” insisted Grandmother.
“You wouldn’t sleep a wink. You
just stop thinking about what it is and go to sleep.
Father, you take John up and I’ll go with Mary
Jane.”
So without finding out the least thing, for Grandmother
wouldn’t even answer a question, not one, Mary
Jane went off to bed—and to sleep.
It didn’t take long to call those children the
next morning, you may be sure of that. Just
one word and they were up and dressing and more eager
than ever to know what Grandfather was planning to
do.
“Now will you tell us?” asked John as
he ran into the living-room where Grandfather was
sitting.
“Not a word till you’ve eaten your breakfast,”
replied Grandfather laughingly.
“Not even a hint?” exclaimed Mary Jane
as she hurried in, buttoning her play dress as she
came, just in time to hear what her Grandfather said.
“Not even a hint,” repeated Grandfather,
“not till each of you has eaten your bowl of
oatmeal and as much other breakfast as Grandmother
says you should.”
“Come on, then, John,” said Mary Jane
practically; “let’s eat quick!”
And she lead the way into the dining-room, where Grandmother
had the breakfast served and ready to eat.
Never did bowls of oatmeal disappear so rapidly as
did those! And when the children had eaten a
baked apple, an egg and a piece of toast apiece, Grandmother
declared that they had done their full duty and could
hear the surprise.
“But I’m not through myself!” exclaimed
Grandfather in mock surprise. “Did you
put your breakfast on your chairs? You couldn’t
have eaten it this soon!” And he pretended
to hunt around under the table for the breakfast.
“You know we didn’t hide it, Grandfather!”
cried Mary Jane; she had been there long enough to
get used to Grandfather’s teasing so she wasn’t
puzzled by it as John was. “Now you’ll
have to tell us, won’t he, Grandmother?”
Grandmother nodded and Grandfather got up from his
chair and went to the dining-room closet. He
rummaged on the shelf a minute and then brought out
a big roll of paper. “There!” he
exclaimed as he laid it in front of the children,
“you may unroll that and see if you can tell
what it is? Better lay it on the floor so you
don’t tip the cream pitcher over.”
