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Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue Giving a Show, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 22. Act 1 |
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_ CHAPTER XXII. ACT I "What's that? Isn't Bunny here?" asked Mr. Brown, who was busy talking to Mr. Treadwell about the play. "This is the first I knew he wasn't here," answered Mrs. Brown. "Did any one see him go out?" No one had. "Perhaps he is upstairs," said Lucile. "No, he wouldn't go up to bed without telling me," said Mrs. Brown. "Besides, he's been teasing me all evening to get his stockings ready to hang up, and he wouldn't go without them. Where can he be?" "He isn't in the kitchen," said Sue, for she had gone out to look, and had come back again. "Perhaps he is hiding away from you, just for fun," said Mart. "He sometimes does play tricks," remarked Mr. Brown. "I'll take a look." They all looked, and they called, but Bunny could not be found. He did not seem to be in the house. Mr. Brown even opened the back door and shouted, thinking perhaps Bunny had gone out to see that the Shetland pony was all right, as he sometimes did. "Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, "where can he be?" "Oh, he's all right," said her husband. "It's early yet, even if it is dark, and maybe he went out to play in the snow, though of course he shouldn't at this hour." "It's snowing, too," said Mrs. Brown, as she stood in the back door beside her husband. "Snowing hard! There's going to be a big storm, and if Bunny is out in it--I wish Bunny would not do such things!" "Oh, will he get freezed?" cried Sue, her eyes opening big and round. "No, dear, he'll be all right," replied her mother. "But he must be found." "Maybe he went out with Bunker Blue," suggested Mart. Bunker Blue, the boy, or rather, young man, who worked for Mr. Brown at the fish and boat dock, had been at the house shortly after supper, and later had said he was going back to the office to make sure it was locked, for it would not be open on Christmas Day. "Perhaps Bunny did go back with Bunker," said Mr. Brown. "Though he shouldn't have done that. But he was so excited about the play there is no telling what he might do." "Bunker ought to be at the office about this time," said Mrs. Brown, looking at the clock. "Call him on the telephone," she begged her husband, "and ask him if Bunny is there. I hope he is." Bunker Blue answered the telephone a few minutes later, when Mr. Brown had called him on the wire. "No, Bunny didn't come out with me," said Bunker. "But I saw him in the kitchen with his cap, coat, and rubber boots on when I left. He seemed to be getting ready to go out." "Then he's gone off somewhere without telling us anything about it!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Maybe he went over to Charlie Star's house, to make sure there would be enough tickets for the show. Oh, I wish he hadn't gone out!" "I can telephone to Mr. Star and ask," suggested Mr. Brown. But when he had done this, and no Bunny Brown was there, they all began to get quite excited. "I'll get on my coat and rubbers and go out with you," said Mart, as Mr. Brown began to put on his overcoat. "He might be in the barn, practicing some of the tricks he is going to do in the play to-morrow." "Oh, I don't believe Bunny would go out to the barn alone after dark," said Mrs. Brown. Her husband and Mart were just starting out into the storm to look for the missing Bunny when the tramp of feet was heard on the porch. "Here comes somebody!" cried Sue. "I hope it's Bunny!" But it was not. Instead it was Bunker Blue, and he was covered with snow flakes. His nose was red, too, even if his name was Bunker Blue. "Has Bunny come back yet?" asked Bunker, as he stamped his feet on the porch, to get the snow off. "No, he hasn't," answered Mr. Brown. "We are getting very anxious about him, too, though the worst that can happen is that he may get cold. He shouldn't have gone out!" "Well, I didn't see anything of him," said Bunker Blue. "I was quite surprised at what you told me, over the telephone, about his not being in the house in this storm." "Oh, maybe he'll never come back, and then we can't have our nice Christmas play!" exclaimed Sue. "Oh, Bunny will come back all right--don't worry about that," said her father gently. "If he doesn't come we'll go and get him. In fact, now that you are here, Bunker, we three might as well set out and look for the little fellow. He's got something on his mind, or he wouldn't go out as he did." "I'm sure I can't see what made him go out," said Mrs. Brown. "It's snowing very hard, too," she added, as she shaded her eyes from the light in the room and looked out of the window. "But it isn't very cold, that's one good thing," her husband added. "Of course I wish Bunny hadn't gone out, but, since he has, we must go out and find him." "Could he, by any chance, be hiding somewhere in the house?" asked Mart. "We'll look," decided Mr. Brown, "although we looked before." He and Mart, as well as Bunker Blue, were dressed to go out into the storm to look for Bunny, who was so strangely missing, but when Mart said this Mr. Brown decided that it would be better to go over the house once more, to make sure Bunny was not hiding away. "We'll take Sue with us to help search," said her father, as he took off his overcoat, for he did not know how long he would stay in the house. "Bunny and Sue play hide-and-go-seek games in the different rooms," went on Mr. Brown, "and Sue knows lots of hiding places; don't you, Sue?" "Yes, we hide in lots of places," the little girl answered. "But I don't guess Bunny is hiding now." "Oh, well, maybe he is, just to fool us," returned her father. "Come now, we'll begin the search." And while the storm was getting more and more wild outside, with the wind blowing harder and the snowflakes coming down more and more thickly, Mr. Brown, Bunker, and Mart, with Sue and Mrs. Brown to help them, began searching through the house after Bunny. It was a good thing they took Sue with them, for she knew many "cubby holes" in which she and her brother often took turns hiding. And some of these even her mother had forgotten about, though Mrs. Brown thought she knew every nook and cranny of the house. But Bunny was in none of these places, and though they looked and called his name and called again, from attic to cellar, there was no sign of the little fellow. "He surely must have gone out!" decided Mr. Brown. "Very likely he's gone to see some of the boys to talk about the play." "Then let's go and find him!" cried Bunker Blue, putting on his coat again. "That's what I say!" came from Mart. "This is no night for a little boy to be out. It's snowing harder than ever." So Mr. Brown, Bunker, and Mart started out to look for Bunny. They went first to one house and then to another, and there were many houses where Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were in the habit of calling. At most of the places were boys and girls with whom Bunny and Sue played, or who were to take part in the Christmas show. But none of these boys or girls had seen Bunny. "Well, this is certainly strange!" declared Mr. Brown, when they had stopped at the last place where they thought it likely Bunny would be. "I guess we'll have to tell the police about it and have them help hunt for him. I don't see what else we can do." "Maybe it would be the best way," agreed Bunker Blue. "I'll go down and tell the chief of police." "No, we had better telephone--that's quicker," said Mr. Brown. So they stopped in the drug store and Mr. Brown talked to the police station on the wire. "All right," the chief answered back. "I'll start some of my men out on the search. You go back home and let me know as soon as Bunny is found or comes back." This Mr. Brown promised to do, and soon he and Mart and Bunker were back at the Brown home. Mrs. Brown looked very much disappointed and worried when her husband came in without Bunny. "Oh, where can he be?" she cried. Just then the heavy tramp of feet was heard on the porch. "Maybe this is Bunny!" exclaimed Mart. And Bunny Brown it was, all covered with snow flakes, his eyes shining and his cheeks red with the cold. He carried a small basket in one hand, and the other was clasped in that of Mr. Raymond, the man who owned the hardware store. "Why Bunny Brown! where have you been?" cried his mother, as the lamp light shone on his flushed face, and made the snowflakes sparkle. "And what have you got in the basket?" asked Sue. "That's Peter," was the answer, and before any one could ask who Peter was, if they had wished to, there came a loud crow from the basket. "A rooster!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Yes," said Bunny. "Peter--he's George's pet bantam rooster. And he crowed at the wrong time in the practice to-day--I mean Peter crowed--so I took him down into Mr. Raymond's cellar. And then I forgot all about him, and I left him there, and I thought of him after supper, and I guessed he'd be hungry, so I went back to get him." "Yes, that's just what he did," said the hardware man. "I was busy waiting on late Christmas Eve customers, when in came Bunny, all covered with snow. I didn't know what he meant when he told me he'd come back for the rooster, for I'd forgotten about the bird myself. "Nothing would do but he must bring Peter home, and, knowing what a bad storm it was, I came back with him. I'd have telephoned, but my wire's out of order, so I couldn't reach you, and I didn't want to stop to go anywhere else. So I brought him over in my auto." "It was very kind of you," said Mr. Brown. "And, Bunny, it was very wrong of you to go away without telling us," said Mrs. Brown. "I'm sorry," answered the little boy. "But I thought maybe Peter'd be lonesome all alone in the dark, and on Christmas Eve too." "That's so!" laughed Mr. Raymond. "I guess, Mrs. Brown, you'll have to forgive Bunny on account of it's being Christmas Eve." "Did you hang up your stocking, Mr. Raymond?" asked Sue, and they all laughed at that, so that every one felt better, and Bunny was not scolded, as perhaps he ought to have been. "Well, I must get back to my store," said the hardware man. "Merry Christmas to you, and I'll see you all at the play to-morrow!" "Yes, we'll all be there!" cried Bunny. "You're going to have a free ticket, you know!" This had been decided on, because Mr. Raymond was so kind about letting the children have the new hall he had fitted up. "Good-nights," and more "Merry Christmas" greetings were called back and forth, and then, as the hardware man left in his automobile, to go chugging through the storm, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hung up their stockings for Santa Claus and went to bed. "Oh, I'm so happy; aren't you, Bunny?" laughed Sue. "Christmas will be here in the morning, and we're going to have a play an'--everything lovely!" "Yes," answered Bunny. "I'm glad, and I'm glad I got Peter so he won't have to stay all alone, too." The little rooster was taken out by Mr. Brown and put in the chicken house near the barn for the night. Word was telephoned to George that his pet bantam was all right. In a little while every one in the house was in bed. If this book had started out to be a Christmas story I could put in a lot about what nice presents Bunny and Sue got. And also how Santa Claus did not forget Mart and Lucile. But as this is a book about Bunny Brown and his sister Sue giving a show, I must get to that part of my story. I'll just say, though, that the little boy and girl thought it was the finest Christmas they had ever known. "I hope it won't snow so hard that nobody will come to the show," said Sue, when, after breakfast, she stood with her nose pressed in a funny, flat way against the window. It was snowing, but not too hard. "O, I guess every one will come," said Mrs. Brown. "They have all bought tickets, anyhow, so you'll make some money for the Home for the Blind." "And I hope Uncle Bill doesn't forget to come," put in Lucile. "I had word from him a little while ago," said Mr. Brown. "I'm going for him in my auto. And now we must have an early dinner and get ready for the play." I think Bunny and Sue were so excited that they did not eat as much roast turkey and cranberry sauce at that Christmas dinner as at others. But they had enough, anyhow, and in due time they were at the hall, where they met all the other children. Bunny had brought back the bantam rooster, thinking that perhaps, after all, Peter might have some part in the play. Will Laydon had his trained white mice with him, Splash was on hand, ready to cling to the piece of cloth on Mr. Treadwell's coat, and some other animal pets were ready to do their share in the play. There was a final looking over of every one, mothers and sisters saw to it that the dresses and suits of the girls and boys were all right, and Mr. Treadwell was here, there, and everywhere, back of the scenes and curtain. "Oh, there's a terrible big crowd!" exclaimed Bunny, as he looked out at the audience through a peep-hole in the curtain. "Then we'll make a lot of money for the Blind Home," said Sue. "I see Uncle Bill!" cried Mart, as he, too, looked out. "Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed Lucile. "Now if we could only hear from Aunt Sallie and Uncle Simon everything would be all right." The musicians were in their places. The hall was well filled, not only with boys and girls who had come to see their chums and playmates act, but with grown folks as well. "Are you all ready?" asked Mr. Treadwell of Bunny, Sue and the others, as the musicians finished playing the opening piece. "Yes," answered Bunny. "I'm all ready." "Is my hair ribbon on right?" Sue wanted to know. "Yes, you look sweet!" said Lucile. "Now all ready for act one!" exclaimed the impersonator as he made sure that Snap was in his place. And then up went the curtain on the meadow scene! _ |
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