ntleman was
kissing Mother.

CHAPTER VI

BROOKSIDE

Sunny Boy found himself looking into two dark eyes so much like Daddy's
that he almost jumped. But the rest of the old gentleman was not like
Daddy--no indeed. He was short and round instead of tall, and he had the
curliest white hair and beard Sunny Boy had ever seen. Sunny Boy knew
this must be Grandpa Horton, and when he was lifted up in a pair of
strong arms and given a tremendous hug before being gently set down, he
decided that he loved him very much.

"Grandma couldn't come," explained Grandpa, leading the way to an
old-fashioned carriage and pair of horses drawn up at the other end of
the station. "There's only Araminta to help her with the supper, and
Grandma's heart was set on having the biscuits just right. In you go,
Olive. Wait a minute, though, what about your trunk?"

"I have the check, Father," Mrs. Horton answered. "I thought Jimmie would
be coming down in the morning to the creamery. He can get it then."

"An' Mother brought her nightie in the bag an' my pajamas," contributed
Sunny Boy, waiting while Mother and the bag were stowed away on the back
seat.

"Want to ride up with me and help drive?" said Grandpa, turning to him
suddenly.

Poor Sunny Boy was sorely tempted, but he decided quickly.

"I have to take care of Mother," he said. "She might be lonesome all
alone in the back."

"No, indeed," cried Mother instantly. "You ride up there with Grandpa,
precious. You were so good not to tease about the taxi. I'll lean over
the seat and talk to you both."

So Sunny Boy and Grandpa got into the front seat, and Sunny learned that
the horses' names were Paul and Peter, and that they were not afraid of
automobiles, and that he could drive them whenever some older person was
with him. Paul and Peter trotted briskly along, and Grandpa said they
knew they were going home to supper.

They drove through the town, and Sunny Boy thought it looked very cool,
and clean, and pretty, after the warm and dusty train. The grass was
bright green, and, as Sunny Boy wrote Harriet, "millions and dozens" of
robins were singing among the trees. A great red sun was going to bed
back of a high dark hill, and Sunny Boy, sitting beside Grandpa and
holding the reins while Paul and Peter trotted steadily, thought that the
country was the nicest place he had ever been in.

Then, where the road divided, Grandpa took the reins and turned the team
to the left. T