Now that you know the names of most of the characters who are to appear in this book, I might mention some of the other volumes.  The first one was called “Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue,” and told of their adventures around home.  Then they went to Grandpa’s farm, they played circus, they visited Aunt Lu in her city home, they went to “Camp Rest-a-While,” and then they went to the Big Woods.  After that they had exciting adventures on an auto tour, and you can imagine what joy was theirs when they were given a Shetland pony, that was named Toby.

Bunny Brown and his sister were always thinking up new ideas, and when they wanted to give a show few doubted but what they would succeed.  They did, and made a goodly sum for a home for the blind.  One of the trips the Browns made was to Christmas Tree Cove, and in the book of that name you will find their adventures set forth.  They also made a winter trip to the South, and they had not long been back from that when the things happened that I have just told you about—­the grand crash in the make-believe hardware store.

With the help of Mary and Mrs. Brown, Bunny was pulled from beneath the wreckage.  At first the little boy could hardly speak, and his mother, no less than Mary and Sue, was beginning to get frightened.  But suddenly with a gasp Bunny found his voice, and his first question was: 

“Did you get hurt, Sue?”

“No,” she answered.  “But I guess you did.”

“Only a little crack on the head,” Bunny replied, rubbing the place that hurt.  “But who knocked down my high shelf?  Did Splash get in and wag his tail?”

Sometimes the big dog did this with funny results.

“I guess I knocked down your shelf, Bunny,” said Mary.  “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know you had a board on top of the doors.”

“Did you have that, Bunny?” asked his mother.

“Yes’m, I—­I guess I did,” Bunny had to admit.  “It was a high shelf for our hardware store.  I had the washboiler up there!”

“No wonder there was a crash!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown.  “It’s a wonder you weren’t hurt!”

“I guess the big ironing board fell on the stepladder first, and stayed there, and the rest of the things didn’t hit Bunny because he was under the board,” explained Mary.

And that is about how it happened.  Bunny was under a sort of arch formed by the stepladder and the two ironing boards, and so was saved from being hit on the head by the heavy things.  One of the overturned chairs, however, had struck him in the stomach, and this had rather knocked his breath out, which made him unable to talk for a little while.

“Well, I’m glad it was no worse than this,” said Mrs. Brown.  “Mercy sakes, though, the kitchen is a sight!”

“I don’t mind!  I’ll clean it up,” offered good-natured Mary.  “The children have to play something in the house when it rains out of doors.”

“Yes,” agreed Mrs. Brown.  “But they could have kept on playing grocery store.  They didn’t need to make a high shelf and put the big washboiler up on it to fall down when the door was moved the least bit!”