"Sometimes we traveled with them, and again we"d be off on the road by ourselves. But whenever we went alone that way Uncle Simon would always get some one, like Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, to look after us and take charge of us. So we didn"t have it so hard until Uncle Simon and Aunt Sallie went away."
"Went away!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Where did they go?"
"That"s what we can"t find out," answered Mart "They left their address for us with Mr. Jackson, but he lost it, and now we don"t know where our uncle and aunt are."
"But surely some one knows!" said Mrs. Newton.
"Well, yes, I guess Uncle Bill knows, but we can"t find him," said Mart.
"You seem to belong to a lost family!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, with a smile. "Who is Uncle Bill, and where is he?"
"We don"t know where he is, but he"s blind," put in Lucile. "The last we heard of him he was going to some Home for the Blind, or to some hospital to be cured. But we don"t know where he is. If we could find him he"d have Uncle Simon"s address, for Uncle Simon used to always write to Uncle Bill. Of course Uncle Bill had to get some one to read the letters to him. But we haven"t seen either of our uncles for a long time."
"You poor children!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "This is too bad! We must see what we can do to help you. Where do you think your Uncle Simon and Aunt Sallie went to?" she asked.
"It was over to England or France, or some place like that," answered Mart. "It was just before the war started, and maybe their ship was sunk. Anyhow, we haven"t heard from them since then, and Mr. Jackson lost their address," he added.
"But your Uncle Simon knew where Mr. Jackson was, didn"t he?" asked Mrs.
Newton with interest.
"Well, maybe he did and maybe he didn"t," answered Mart. "You see Mr.
Jackson and his wife travel about a lot. Lots of times letters get lost, so Uncle Simon may have written about us, and Mr. Jackson might never have got the letter."
"Yes, that"s so," agreed Mrs. Brown. "Well, when my husband comes home we"ll talk with him and see what is best to do. You had better stay here until then and make yourselves at home. Hark! There"s the doorbell."
"Who do you suppose that is, Mother?" asked Sue.
"I can"t tell that, Sue, from here."
"I"ll go and see who it is, Mother," offered Bunny, as he ran through the hall. The others heard the front door open and the sound of a man"s voice mingling with that of Bunny"s. In a moment the little fellow came running back.
"Who is it?" asked his mother.
"General Washington," was the surprising answer.
CHAPTER VII
"DOWN ON THE FARM"
For a moment Mrs. Brown did not know whether to laugh at Bunny for playing a joke or to tell him he must not do such things when there were visitors at the house. But Bunny looked so serious that his mother thought perhaps he did not mean to be funny.
"Who is it?" she asked again.
"General Washington," replied the little boy.
"Bunny Brown!" cried Mrs. Newton, "what do you mean?"
"Well, it"s the man who made believe he was General Washington in the Opera House show, anyhow!" declared Bunny. ""Course he doesn"t look like General Washington now, but----"
Lucile and Mart did not wait for Bunny to finish. Together they ran to the front door.
"Bunny Brown, you aren"t playing any jokes, are you?" asked his mother.
"No"m! Honest I mean it!" cried Bunny, his eyes shining with excitement.
"It"s the same man who was General Washington and General Grant and a lot of other people at the show in the Opera House! He"s at our front door now, and he wants to know if the Happy Day Twins are here."
"The Happy Day Twins?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.
"That"s the name the boy and girl went under on the programme, you know," explained Mrs. Newton. "The same children you have been so kind to--Lucile and Mart Clayton. They took the name of the "Happy Day Twins"
on the stage you know. Did the impersonator want them, Bunny?" she asked.
"I didn"t see any "personator," answered the little boy. "He was General Washington, I tell you, only he wasn"t dressed up."
"I must go and see," declared Mrs. Brown.
As she went down the hall she met the brother and sister coming back.
They seemed much excited.
"It"s our friend, Mr. Treadwell," explained Mart. "He heard we had started for this town, and he followed us. He heard about my climbing the tree after the monkey, and some one told him my sister and I had come to your house, Mrs. Brown. May I ask him in? It"s Mr. Samuel Treadwell, and he"s a good friend of ours."
"Certainly, ask him in," said Mrs. Brown, with a smile. "Perhaps he is hungry, too," she said to her friend Mrs. Newton, Mart having gone back to the front door. "I"ve heard that actors are often hungry."
"But he"s General Washington, too, isn"t he?" demanded Bunny, following Mart.
"Yes, he pretends to be all sorts of famous people--on the stage,"
kindly explained Mart to Bunny. "You"ll like him, he can do lots of tricks."
"Can he jiggle--I mean juggle?"
"Yes, but not as good as the other man in the play."
By this time Mrs. Brown had reached the door. On the steps stood an elderly man, with a pleasant smile on his face. Mrs. Brown recognized him at once as the impersonator, though of course he had on no wig or costume now. He looked just like an ordinary man, except that his face was rather more wrinkled.
"I"m sorry to trouble you, madam," said the man, "but I have been looking for my little friends, the "Happy Day Twins," as they are billed. Their real names are--well, I suppose they have told you," and he smiled at Lucile and Mart, who were standing in the hall.
"Yes, we have been learning something about them, but we would be glad to know more, so we could help them," said Mrs. Brown. "Won"t you come in? We have just been giving the children a little lunch, and perhaps, if you have not eaten lately, you will be glad to do so now."
"More glad than you can guess, madam," said the man with a bow. "I am, indeed, hungry. We have had bad luck, as perhaps Lucile and Mart have told you."
"Yes, they spoke of it," said Bunny"s mother. "And now please come in, and while you are eating we can talk."
"Say, we could have a regular show here now!" whispered Bunny Brown to his sister Sue. "We have three actors now, and you and I would make two more."
"Oh, I don"t want to be in a show now," said Sue. "I want to hear what they"re going to tell mother."