s supply
of lunches along. All these receipts make me feel just like it!"

"Oh, do let me go too," begged Mildred.

"So you shall," laughed Miss Betty. "But before we start, I must tell
you one thing more: if you want an ab-so-lute-ly perfect lunch, you must
always have a surprise for the very last thing of all."

"How do you make one?" asked Brownie, curiously.

"Oh, you don't make them at all, or at least not usually; a surprise is
something which has to be eaten last of all, after all the sandwiches
and other things are gone, for a sort of dessert; sometimes I had a
piece of maple-sugar, or a bit of sweet chocolate, or a couple of
marshmallows; sometimes it was a fig or two, or a few dates. But it was
always hidden down in the very bottom of the box, and everything had to
be finished up before I opened the little paper it was in. Honestly, I
don't think boys need surprises at all, because they will eat everything
up any way, but often girls will skip a sandwich or two, unless they
know about the surprise."

"When I take my lunch, I shall have one every time," said Brownie.

"So shall I," laughed Mother Blair.

"I shall certainly give Jack one every day, because of Caesar," said
Mildred.

The next morning bright and early, Mildred hurried to get Jack's
luncheon all ready before breakfast, and her mother said she would help
her, just for once. First they made three beautiful thin sandwiches out
of bread and butter spread with the nice beefsteak filling, and wrapped
these up by themselves and put them in one corner of the box; then in
the opposite corner went the surprise, this time four little chocolate
crackers, all wrapped up carefully; on top of them, to hide them, went
three more sandwiches, made of brown bread and butter and cheese; then
the deviled egg filled the corner on top of the other pile, and one of
Norah's cakes was put opposite.

"Now for the fruit," said Mother Blair. "What is there?"

Mildred said there was an orange, but it would not go in the box.

"Oh, you don't give anybody an orange whole for luncheon! Peel it first,
then break it carefully in halves, wrap each half up in paper by itself,
and you will see how well it fits in and how easy it will be to eat when
you have no fruit-knife or orange-spoon to use with it. Now that is all,
and it's what I call a perfectly delicious luncheon, don't you?"

"_Perfectly!_" said Mildred, rapturously, as she tied up the box. "I
guess the other boy