“Maybe you could find something else to put on your nose,” said the little girl.  “Oh, Bunny, I know!” she suddenly cried.  “I’ve just thought of something fine!”

“What?” asked Bunny.

Sue looked all around, to make sure no one was listening, and then she whispered to Bunny.  And what it was she told him I’m not allowed to tell you just now, though I will when the right time comes.

Anyhow, Bunny and Sue were very busy the rest of the day.  They were making something out in the barn, and they kept the doors closed so no one could see what they were doing.

It was the day after this that Bunny and Sue were asked by their grandma to go on a little errand for her.  It was about half a mile down the safe country road, to a neighbor’s house, and as the two children had been there before, they knew the way very well.

Hand in hand they set off, with Splash following after them.  They walked slowly, for there was no hurry.  Now and then they stopped to pick some pretty flowers, or get a drink at a wayside spring.  Once in a while they saw a red, yellow or blue bird, and they stopped to watch the pretty creatures fly to their nests, where their little ones were waiting to be fed.

“Oh, isn’t it just lovely in the country,” said Sue.  “Don’t you just love it, Bunny?”

“Yes,” he answered.  “I do.  And won’t we have fun at our circus, Sue, when I dress up like a——­”

“Hush!” exclaimed the little girl.  “Don’t tell anyone!  It’s a secret you know.”

“Pooh!  There’s nobody here to tell!” laughed Bunny.

In a little while they were at the house of the neighbor to whom Grandma Brown had sent them.  They gave in the little note grandma had written, and then Mrs. Wilson, to whom it was sent, after writing an answer, gave Bunny and Sue each a cookie, and a cool glass of milk.

“Sit down in the shade, on the porch, and eat and drink,” said Mrs. Wilson.  “Then you will feel better when going home.”

Bunny and Sue liked the cookies and milk very much.  They were just eating the last crumbs of the cookies, and drinking the last drops of milk, when Bunny, looking out toward the road, saw, going past, a man with a large number of balloons, tied to strings, floating over his head.  There were red balloons, and blue ones; green, yellow, purple, white and pink ones.

“Oh, look, Sue!” cried Bunny.  “The balloons!  That’s just what we want for our circus.”

“What do we want of balloons?” asked the little girl.

“I mean we ought to have somebody sell them outside the tents,” Bunny went on.  “It won’t look like a real circus without toy balloons.”

“That’s so,” agreed Sue.  “But how can we get ’em?”

“We’ll ask the balloon man,” said Bunny.  He was not a bit bashful about speaking to strangers.

Setting down his empty milk glass, Bunny ran down the front path toward the road, where the balloon man was walking along through the dust.  Sue ran after her brother.