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Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue Giving a Show, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 25. The Final Curtain |
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_ CHAPTER XXV. THE FINAL CURTAIN Mr. Treadwell, who was off to one side of the stage getting everything ready for the last scene, came out now to tell Bunny, Sue, and the others to start the singing. "And sing good and loud," said the impersonator, who was dressed in a funny clown suit. "Sing your best, so all the people will like the show that Bunny and Sue started." The piano player struck a few notes and then Mr. Brown, who had finished reading the telegram, held up his hand and stepped out into the aisle, walking toward the stage. "Wait a minute!" called Mr. Brown, and the piano player stopped. "Is there anything the matter?" asked Mr. Treadwell, and Lucile's Uncle Bill seemed a bit uneasy, for, being blind, he could not so well take care of himself in case of accident as could the others. "Don't you want Bunny and me to sing any more, Daddy?" called out Sue, from where she stood on the stage, and nearly every one in the hall laughed. "Oh, yes, indeed, I want you to sing," said Mr. Brown. "But I have some good news, and I might as well tell it to those to whom it comes before the show goes on. It will not take more than a few minute. Lucile--Mart--the good news is for you!" And Mr. Brown waved the telegram at the boy acrobat and his sister, the singer. "Is it from our kin?" asked Mart. "Yes," answered Bunny's father. "This message came to me because, I suppose, your uncle, Mr. William Clayton, gave my address when he telegraphed to your uncle Simon and Aunt Sallie." "And is the message from them?" asked Lucile. "Yes," replied Mr. Brown. "It's from your Uncle Simon, and he says he and your aunt will be here in about a week. They have been giving a show in a far-off country, and they did not know you had lost track of them and your Uncle Bill. But everything is all right now. Your uncle and aunt are coming to look after you, and they say they are sorry you had so much trouble." "We didn't have much trouble after we met you, and you took care of us," said Mart. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way about it," replied Mr. Brown. "And I'll be glad to have you and Lucile stay with me until your uncle and aunt come back. It's well they telegraphed instead of waiting to send a letter, for the good news came more quickly. They say they just received the first letter your Uncle Bill sent, and they made haste to answer by telegraph." "So everything is all right, is it?" asked Mart's Uncle Bill, from where he sat with a friend from the Home for the Blind. "Yes," answered Mr. Brown. "Lucile and Mart have found their relatives, and I hope they never lose them again." "That's fine!" cried the blind man. "This will be a jolly Christmas for everybody!" And so it was, and no one was happier than Lucile and Mart that they had found their missing uncle and aunt. "Oh, I can sing my last song so much more happily now!" said Lucile softly. "And I'm going to turn three flipflops instead of one!" cried Mart. "And I'll help you!" added Bunny Brown, and every one laughed again. It was a merry, happy, jolly time, just right for Christmas. "Well, all ready now, children!" called Mr. Treadwell when Mr. Brown had taken his seat. "Now for the last grand chorus then the final curtain and the play will be over!" Once more the piano played, and then the children, led by Lucile, lifted up their sweet voices in song. And it seemed to be a hymn of thanksgiving for the two children who had found their lost ones. Circling around the tree in the stage orchard marched Bunny Brown, his sister Sue, and the other children. Then out danced Mr. Treadwell, in another funny suit, and then, all at once, out from the wings rushed Splash the dog. He stood up on his hind legs put his paws on Mr. Treadwell's shoulders, and marched across the stage that way, while the audience clapped and Bunny and Sue stared with wide-opened eyes. "I--I didn't know my dog could do that trick!" cried Bunny. "I taught it to him for a surprise," said the actor. "Hi, Splash! Come on and have another dance with me!" And the dog walked across the stage again on his hind legs. And then, with another song, given as the children stood in a double row facing the audience, the show of "Down on the Farm" came to a close and the final curtain fell, while the crowd of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts and friends applauded as loudly as they could. Mr. Brown gave a little talk about the Home for the Blind and many persons said they would help it. "Well, from what I heard of it, I'll say that was a fine show!" said Lucile's Uncle Bill. "And one of the best parts was that telegram Mr. Brown read." "Yes, I think so myself," said Bunny's father. Back on the stage the children were hurrying to get off their costumes and into their regular garments, so they might go home and look at their Christmas presents once more. "Shall we ever give the show again?" asked Charlie Star. "Well, we might, in a day or so," said Mr. Treadwell. "If the audience would like to see it, we might give it some afternoon next week." "Oh, yes, let's do it!" cried Bunny. "Oh, yes!" cried Sue and the others. While this talk was going on Mr. Raymond, the owner of the hall, came up to where Bunny Brown stood. "I guess you're the treasurer of this show, aren't you?" he asked, and Sue noticed that the hardware man had something in his hand. "No--no," said Bunny, shaking his head, "I wasn't a--a treasure. I was a farm boy in one act and I turned somersaults in another act." "Well, I don't exactly mean that," said Mr. Raymond, with a laugh. "I mean you got up the show, didn't you?" "Yes, Bunny and Sue really started it," said Mr. Treadwell. "That's what I thought," said the hardware man. "Well, then, Bunny, this money comes to you. It's what was taken in at the door, and what was paid for tickets. Your father asked me to take charge of it, but, now that the first show, at least, is over, you'd better have it." He handed a box that seemed to be full of silver money and bills to Bunny and Sue Brown. "Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Sue. "It's most a thousand dollars I guess!" "No, not quite as much as that," said Mr. Raymond. "But your show was a great success, and there's ninety dollars and fifteen cents there. The fifteen cents is from a boy who couldn't raise the quarter admission, so I let him in for fifteen. I'd have let him in for nothing, but he said he wanted to do all he could to help the Home for the Blind." "Yes, this money's for the Blind Home," said Bunny. "I'm glad we got such a lot. I didn't think we'd get more than ten dollars." "Indeed, you did very well, and I want to thank you on behalf of the blind people," said Mr. Harrison, manager of the Home, to whom Mr. Brown handed the money, after Bunny, Sue, and the other children had all had a look at it. "This will buy many a little comfort for my people." Then, indeed, Bunny, Sue and the others felt repaid for all they had done to get up the show; and some of them had worked very hard to give the audience a pleasant and amusing time. So everything came out well, and the finding of the uncle and aunt of Lucile and Mart was one of the nicest parts of the little play. Soon the hall was deserted, and the children were on their way home. Mr. Bill Clayton--though I presume his name was William, and not just Bill--and Mr. Harrison went to the Brown house to stay for supper, and there the telegram from their Uncle Simon was read again by Lucile and Mart. "I'm going to be a show actor when I grow up," declared Bunny Brown. "And I'm going to sing on the stage--I like it," said Sue. "Well, it will be a good many years before you are old enough to go on the real stage," said her mother, with a laugh. "You or Bunny either." And so the show that Bunny and Sue gave came to an end--yet not quite an end, either. For the play was given over again the week after, and more money raised for the Home for the Blind. And among those in the audience were Mart and Lucile's Uncle Simon and Aunt Sallie. They had hurried their trip back to this country to look after Lucile and Mart, and they were glad to find their niece and nephew in such good hands. "And if it hadn't been for Bunny Brown, thinking of getting up a show, maybe you'd never have found us," said Mart to his Uncle Simon. "Maybe," agreed Mr. Weatherby. "Bunny did a lot, and so did his sister Sue! They're just the kind of children to do things!" And perhaps, if all goes well, you may read of other doings of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. [THE END] _ |
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