THE STRANGE VOICE
"This is very kind of you, I'm sure, Mr. Raymond," said Mr. Brown. "I
didn't know there was any place in town I hadn't thought of. The church
will hardly do, and the Opera House costs too much to hire for a simple
little play. The town meeting hall is too small, and I was thinking we'd
have to get a tent, perhaps.
"No, you won't have to do that," said the merchant. "You know there's a
big loft over my store, don't you?"
"Yes, but I thought you had that piled full of things," said Mr. Brown.
"Well, it was, but it's partly cleaned out now," was the answer. "I'm
going to clean out the rest, and you can have that place for your show,
and welcome. It won't cost you a penny for rent."
"Oh! Oh!" Bunny Brown and his sister Sue fairly squealed in delight.
"I'm glad you like it," said Mr. Raymond with a smile. "I was up in my
attic, as I call it, the other day, and after I got to thinking about
cleaning it out I thought of you children and your show. I heard some
one say that Mr. Brown couldn't get just the place that would suit, so
began to measure around, and I think mine will do."
"I'm sure it will," said Mrs. Brown.
"But is there a stage and are there seats for the audience?" asked Mart,
who was the first to think of these things.
"No, there isn't a stage, nor yet any seats," said Mr. Raymond, and at
hearing this Bunny and Sue looked disappointed. But they brightened up
when Mr. Raymond went on with a smile:
"I'm going to build a stage in the place, and also put in seats. It's
about time we had, in this town, some place where little shows and
entertainments can be given. The town hall is too small, and the Opera
House is too big. I'm going to make mine in-between."
"Like the big bear and the little bear and the middle-sized bear!"
laughed Sue.
"That's it," said Mr. Raymond. "I expect to make some money by renting
out my hall after I get it fixed up. But I'm going to let you folks
have it for nothing this time," he was quick to say. "It will advertise
the place, and people will know about it. So now if you'd like it I'll
go ahead and fix up the stage and the seats, and as soon as it's ready
you can move your scenery in and have your show, Bunny Brown."
"Will it be ready in time for a Christmas entertainment?" asked Lucile.
"Oh, yes, I'll see to that!" promised Mr. Raymond.
"Well, I'm sure we can't thank you enough," said Mr. Brown. "I had
promised the children a place for their show, but I was just beginning
to think I couldn't find one. This will be just the thing."
"And Mr. Raymond can come to our play for nothing!" cried Bunny.
"Yes, I think that's the least we can offer him," laughed Mrs. Brown.
There was great excitement in town the next day, especially among the
boys and girls, when it became known that a new hall was to be built
over the hardware store, and it can be easily believed that Bunny, Sue,
and their friends who were to be in the play, "Down on the Farm," were
more excited than any one else.
While they waited for Mr. Raymond to have his "attic," as he called it,
cleaned out and the stage built and seats put in, Bunny and Sue, with
Mart and Lucile, had plenty of fun, as well as some work. For it was
work to get up a play, as the children soon found out. Mr. Treadwell did
his part, in writing the different parts the boy and girl actors were to
speak, but the boys and girls themselves had to learn them by heart, and
it was not as easy as learning to speak a "single piece" for Friday
afternoon at school.
But every one did his or her best, and soon it was felt that the play
was coming on "in fine shape," as the actor said. It was easier for Mart
and Lucile to learn their parts, as they were used to appearing on the
stage.
When the children were not practicing they had fun on the snow and ice,
for winter had set in early that year, and there was plenty of coasting
and skating.
One day Mart and his sister came back to the Brown house, having been
downtown to see how the new hall for the play was coming on--Raymond
Hall it was to be called.
"Is it 'most ready?" asked Bunny, who opened the door for the boy
acrobat and his singing sister.
"Yes," was the answer. "Mr. Raymond has had the stage built and they are
putting in the seats to-day. Was there any mail for us, Bunny?" Mart
asked.
"No," answered the little boy.
"Oh dear!" sighed Lucile. "I don't believe we'll ever hear from our
folks. I guess they've forgotten us!"
"Maybe you'll hear at Christmas," said Sue softly. "You get things at
Christmas you don't get in all the year, and maybe you'll get the letter
you want, Lucile."
"I hope so," was the answer. "It's lonesome not to have any folks
writing to you. But of course we love it here!" she made haste to add,
for indeed the Browns were very kind to the boy and the girl, and also
to Mr. Treadwell, who seemed to like it in Bellemere.
At last the new hall was finished, the farm scenery Mr. Brown had
bought was moved in, and one bright, sunny day, with the sparkling white
snow on the ground outside, the boys and girls gathered over the
hardware store for practice.
"Now we will try the first act," said Mr. Treadwell, when the meadow
scene had been set up on the stage, and it "looked as real as anything!"
as Sue whispered to Sadie West.
"Take your places!" said the actor. "Remember now, Bunny and Sue are
supposed to be picking daisies in the meadow, and you other children are
picking buttercups. All at once an old tramp comes along the road--which
is the front of the stage, as I've told you."
"Oh, I don't want to play if there's going to be an old twamp in it!"
exclaimed little Belle Hanson. "I don't like twamps! They's awful
dirty!"
"It isn't a real tramp," said Mr. Treadwell. "I dress up like one,
Belle," for he had arranged to have a number of costumes for himself so
he could take different parts in the little play.
"Well, if it's just a play twamp all wight," said Belle. "They's wagged
maybe, but not dirty."
The children were told what they must do and say for the first act. They
had practiced it over and over again, but even then some of them would
forget at times.
"Now we're all ready," said Mr. Treadwell, at length. "Start to pick
daisies, Bunny and Sue, and the rest of you pick buttercups. Then I'll
make believe I'm a tramp and come along the road."
As this was not what is called a "dress rehearsal" neither Mr. Treadwell
nor the children had on any special costumes. They were wearing their
everyday clothes.
Bunny, Sue, and the others took their places, and spoke their proper
lines.
"Oh, here comes a tramp!" suddenly cried Sue to her brother, as she was
supposed to do in the play when Mr. Treadwell appeared on the stage.
"Here comes a tramp!"
Now Bunny was supposed to have a speech at this point, but no sooner had
Sue cried out just as she had been taught to do, than a strange voice
answered her, saying:
"A tramp is it! Set the dog on him! Here, Towser! Get after the tramp!
No tramps allowed around here! Bow! Wow! Wow!" and then came a shrill
whistle as of some one calling a dog.