“A rooster!” cried Mrs. Brown.

“Yes,” said Bunny.  “Peter—­he’s George’s pet bantam rooster.  And he crowed at the wrong time in the practice to-day—­I mean Peter crowed—­so I took him down into Mr. Raymond’s cellar.  And then I forgot all about him, and I left him there, and I thought of him after supper, and I guessed he’d be hungry, so I went back to get him.”

“Yes, that’s just what he did,” said the hardware man.  “I was busy waiting on late Christmas Eve customers, when in came Bunny, all covered with snow.  I didn’t know what he meant when he told me he’d come back for the rooster, for I’d forgotten about the bird myself.

“Nothing would do but he must bring Peter home, and, knowing what a bad storm it was, I came back with him.  I’d have telephoned, but my wire’s out of order, so I couldn’t reach you, and I didn’t want to stop to go anywhere else.  So I brought him over in my auto.”

“It was very kind of you,” said Mr. Brown.

“And, Bunny, it was very wrong of you to go away without telling us,” said Mrs. Brown.

“I’m sorry,” answered the little boy.  “But I thought maybe Peter’d be lonesome all alone in the dark, and on Christmas Eve too.”

“That’s so!” laughed Mr. Raymond.  “I guess, Mrs. Brown, you’ll have to forgive Bunny on account of it’s being Christmas Eve.”

“Did you hang up your stocking, Mr. Raymond?” asked Sue, and they all laughed at that, so that every one felt better, and Bunny was not scolded, as perhaps he ought to have been.

“Well, I must get back to my store,” said the hardware man.  “Merry Christmas to you, and I’ll see you all at the play to-morrow!”

“Yes, we’ll all be there!” cried Bunny.  “You’re going to have a free ticket, you know!”

This had been decided on, because Mr. Raymond was so kind about letting the children have the new hall he had fitted up.

“Good-nights,” and more “Merry Christmas” greetings were called back and forth, and then, as the hardware man left in his automobile, to go chugging through the storm, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hung up their stockings for Santa Claus and went to bed.

“Oh, I’m so happy; aren’t you, Bunny?” laughed Sue.  “Christmas will be here in the morning, and we’re going to have a play an’—­everything lovely!”

“Yes,” answered Bunny.  “I’m glad, and I’m glad I got Peter so he won’t have to stay all alone, too.”

The little rooster was taken out by Mr. Brown and put in the chicken house near the barn for the night.  Word was telephoned to George that his pet bantam was all right.  In a little while every one in the house was in bed.

If this book had started out to be a Christmas story I could put in a lot about what nice presents Bunny and Sue got.  And also how Santa Claus did not forget Mart and Lucile.  But as this is a book about Bunny Brown and his sister Sue giving a show, I must get to that part of my story.  I’ll just say, though, that the little boy and girl thought it was the finest Christmas they had ever known.