"Oh, thank you," said Mr. Brown.
There was a little pause in the play while the children were getting ready to sing the last song. Mr. Brown tore open the message.
"I hope there is no bad news," some one said, and every one in the audience hoped the same thing, for they all liked Mr. Brown.
Bunny and Sue, up on the stage, looked at their father in some wonderment, while Lucile, who was to lead in the singing, glanced at her brother. Could the telegram be about them?
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."