"That"s what it means, little man," was the answer, and Mr. Flynt did not seem so cross now. Perhaps he was sorry for what he had to do. "Mrs.
Golden will have to give up her store."
CHAPTER XXV
GOOD NEWS
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked at each other with sad eyes. After all their work it had come to this. The store would be closed! They would have no place to come and have good times during the long vacation days! It was too bad! What was to be done?
Sue waited for Bunny to speak, as she usually did, and Bunny, after thinking the matter over, asked:
"Are you going to close it up right away?"
"Within a day or so, unless Mrs. Golden can pay her bills," answered Mr.
Flynt. "We have waited as long as we can. I"m going to begin now to close out her business, but it will take two or three days. If she can raise the money in that time----"
"There"s no use waiting or hoping--I can"t do it!" sighed the old lady, with tears in her eyes. "I"ve tried my best, but I can"t do it, even with the help of these dear children and the pony express," and she looked out of the window at Toby, hitched to the little basket cart.
"It is too bad," said Mr. Flynt. "We know you"ve done your best, and if you didn"t owe so much you might get along now, with the start you have.
But it takes all you can make to pay your back debts. It"s best that you should give up the store. My company is sorry for you, but we"ve waited as long as we can. You"ll have to sell out, Mrs. Golden."
"Yes, I suppose so," she agreed. "But if I could only hear from Philip, and if he could bring the money from that legacy, I could pay all I owe and start a bigger store. But I don"t suppose there"s any use hoping for that."
"No, I believe not," agreed Mr. Flynt. "Your son Philip doesn"t seem to have gotten that legacy. Have you heard from him?"
"Not lately," said Mrs. Golden, with a sad shake of her head. "I don"t know why he hasn"t written. Perhaps because he has no good news for me."
"Very likely," said Mr. Flynt. "Well, I must go. You had better arrange to sell everything by the end of the week, and pay us what you can.
We"ll have to wait for the rest, I reckon."
"Won"t there be a store here any more?" asked Sue.
"Oh, some one else may start one. It isn"t a bad place for a grocery and notion shop," answered the black-whiskered man. "But Mrs. Golden can"t keep this store any more."
"Maybe she can if my father will help her!" exclaimed Bunny. "He said he would!"
"Well, if some one would pay what she owes, of course she could keep on with the store," agreed Mr. Flynt. "But we can"t wait any longer. We"ve got to sell her out."
When Bunny and Sue told at home that evening what had happened, Mrs.
Brown said:
"Walter, can"t you do something for that poor old woman?"
"Yes, I must try," he said. "I meant to look into her affairs long before this, but I"ve had so many other things to do that I let it go.
We"ll save the store for her if we can."
""Cause we like to help tend it," said Bunny. "Don"t we, Sue?"
"Yes," answered the little girl.
Instead of going to his boat and fish dock the next morning, as he nearly always did, Mr. Brown called to Bunny to get ready and go down to the corner grocery with him.
"May I come?" asked Sue.
"Yes," her father answered. "You are in this as much as Bunny. We are going to help Mrs. Golden if we can."
They found the old lady sitting sadly in her easy chair near the back of the store where she generally could be found when no customers needed to be waited on.
"Good morning, Mrs. Golden," said Mr. Brown. "I understand you are in trouble."
"If owing a lot of money and not being able to pay it is trouble, then I"m in almost up to my eyes," she answered, with a shake of her head.
"Like I was in the brook!" said Sue.
"Yes, I suppose so," sighed Mrs. Golden. "I"m afraid I"ve got to lose my store."
"Tell me how much you owe," begged Mr. Brown.
And when he heard he shook his head, saying:
"It is more than I thought. If it had been only about a hundred dollars I might have lent it to you, or found some one who would, but now I"m afraid nothing can be done."
"Do you mean the store will have to close?" asked Bunny.
"I"m afraid so, Son," replied his father.
"Oh dear!" sighed Mrs. Golden! "If Philip were only here then I might----"
"Well, here I am, Mother!" cried a voice at the front door. "What"s the trouble?" and in came big, strong, jolly Philip Golden. He had just arrived on a train. "What"s wrong?" he asked, for he could see that his mother had tears in her eyes.
The trouble was soon told.
"Sell the store!" he cried. "I guess not much! Didn"t you get my telegram, Mother?"
"What telegram?"
"The one telling about the legacy. We have it--several thousand dollars! It won"t make us rich, but it will be enough to make you comfortable for life. I heard the good news yesterday, and I sent you a telegram telling about it so you wouldn"t worry any more."
"I never got your message!" said Mrs. Golden, smiling through her tears.
"But it doesn"t matter. I suppose there was some mistake and it went to the wrong address. But it was better to have you bring the good news.
Are you sure we"re to have the legacy?"
"Sure, Mother! I brought some money with me and more will come. You"ll be all right now. You can pay all your bills and have plenty left over."
"Oh, I"m so glad!" cried Sue. "Then you can have a real nice store, can"t you?"