“Why not?” Bunny asked.

“’Cause maybe burglars have been here and maybe they’ve hurt Mrs. Golden!”

“Well, if they have, then we’ve got to help her,” decided Bunny.  “But burglars don’t come in the daytime.  They come only at night time.”

“That’s so,” agreed Sue, growing bolder.

And then the groans stopped and the voice of an old lady said: 

“Who is there, my dears?  Some children, I know by your voices, but I can’t see you.  Don’t be afraid, but come and help me.”

“Where are you, and what’s the matter?” asked Bunny.

“I’m down behind the notion counter,” went on the voice.  “I stepped up on a box to reach something from the shelf, and I slipped and fell.  I’m not badly hurt, thank goodness, but I’m sort of wedged in here between the box and the wall, and I can’t get up.  If you can pull the box out I’ll be all right.”

“We’ll do that!” cried Bunny, and he ran around behind the notion counter, on the side of the store where the needles, pins, and spools of thread were kept.  Sue followed her brother.

There, just as Mrs. Golden had said, they found the old lady storekeeper.  She was lying on the floor with a small packing box so wedged between her back and the side wall that she could not easily get up, especially as she was old and feeble.

“Oh, it’s Bunny Brown and his sister Sue!” exclaimed Mrs. Golden, when she saw the children.  “I’m so glad you came in!  I was hoping some one would come in to help me.  The breath was sort of knocked out of me when I fell, and I could only grunt and groan for a few minutes.”

“We heard you,” said Bunny.

“And I thought it was burglars,” added Sue.

“Bless your hearts!” exclaimed Mrs. Golden.  “Burglars wouldn’t come to my poor, little store.  Now just pull the box out and I’ll be all right.”

Bunny and Sue tugged at the box on which Mrs. Golden had been standing when she slipped and fell.  It was hard work, but they managed to pull it out, and then Mrs. Golden, with a few more grunts and groans, could get up.

“Oh, my poor back!” she exclaimed, as she sank into a chair outside the counter.

“Is it broken?” asked Sue anxiously.

“No, not quite,” was the answer, with a little smile.  “But it’s strained, and I expect I’ll be lame for a while.  Philip always told me not to stand up on things to reach the top shelves, and I guess he was right.”

“Who is Philip?” asked Bunny.

“Philip is my son,” was the answer.  “He’s a grown man, and he has to go off to work every day, though he helps me in the store as much as he can.  I wouldn’t want him to know I fell.  It would only worry him, and he might make me give up my store.  And I don’t want to do that.  I’m feeling better now.  I’ll be all right in a little while.  Did you want something, my dears?” she asked, for she must not forget that she was a storekeeper.