Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove | Page 4

SHOP
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were so surprised at hearing that harsh
voice, and at hearing the door slammed shut and locked behind them,
that they just stood and looked at each other in the carpenter shop. They
forgot, for the moment, all about the big yellow dog and the

pocketbook he had carried away. Then Bunny managed to find his
voice and he cried:
"Who was that, Sue?"
"I--I guess it was Mr. Foswick," she answered. "I'm almost sure it was."
"Yes," agreed Bunny, "I guess it was. But what did he want to lock us
in for? We didn't do anything. We just came in to get mother's
pocketbook and the grocery money away from the dog."
"I p'sume he made a mistake," said Sue. "He must have thought we
were the bad boys that tease him. I saw some of 'em come in once and
scatter the sawdust all over. And I heard Mr. Foswick say he'd fix 'em if
he caught 'em. He must have thought we was them," she added, letting
her English get badly tangled in her excitement.
"I guess so," agreed Bunny. "Well, we'll tell him we aren't. Come on,
Sue!"
Giving up, for the time being, their search in the carpenter shop for the
strange, big yellow dog, Bunny and Sue walked back toward the front
door, which had been slammed shut. And while they are seeking to
make Mr. Foswick understand that he had made a mistake, and had
punished the wrong children, I shall have a moment or two to tell my
new readers something about the characters whose adventures I hope to
relate to you in this story.
The town of Bellemere, which was on the seacoast and near a small
river, was the home of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Their father,
Walter Brown, was in the boat and fish business, owning a wharf,
where he had his office. Men and boys worked for him, and one big
boy, Bunker Blue, was a great friend of Bunny and his sister. In the
Brown home was also Uncle Tad, an old soldier.
In the first book of this series, called "Bunny Brown and His Sister
Sue," I told you many of the things that happened to the children. After
that they went to Grandpa's farm, and played circus, and there are

books about both those happy times. Next the children paid a visit to
Aunt Lu's city home, and from there they went to Camp Rest-a-While.
In the big woods Bunny and Sue had many adventures, and they had so
much fun on their auto tour that I could hardly get it all in one book.
When Mr. Brown bought a Shetland pony for the children they were
delighted, and they had as much fun with it as they did in giving a show.
That is the name of the book just before the present one you are
reading--"Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Giving a Show." In that
volume you may learn how a stranded company of players came to
Bellemere, and what happened. Bunny and Sue, as well as some of
their playmates, were actors and actresses in the show, and Splash, the
dog, did a trick also. But Splash had run away, or been taken away,
during the winter that had just passed, and Bunny and Sue no longer
had a dog.
Perhaps they thought they might induce the big one that had jumped
into the yard to come and live with them, after they had taken the
pocketbook away from him. He was not quite the same sort of dog as
Splash, but he seemed very nice. Bunny and Sue kept hoping Splash
would return or be brought back, but, up to the time this story opens,
that had not come about.
The show the two Brown children gave was talked about for a long
time in Bellemere. Of course, Bunny and Sue had had help in giving it,
and the show was also a means of helping others. Now winter had
passed, spring had come and gone, and it was early summer. Bunny
and Sue had been playing in the yard before going to the store for their
mother when the strange dog had sprung over the fence, snatched up
the pocketbook, and had run off with it, darting into the carpenter shop.
"I don't see anything of him," said Sue, as she and Bunny made their
way amid the piles of boards and lumber and over piles of sawdust and
shavings toward the door.
"You don't see anything of who?" asked Bunny. "Mr. Foswick or the
big dog?"

"The dog," answered Sue. "I couldn't see Mr. Foswick, 'cause he's
outside. He shut the door on us."
"Yes," agreed Bunny, "so he did. Well,