"Perhaps they are just behind us," said Aunt Lu. "We'll find them all right."
"But suppose they are lost?"
"They can't be lost very long in New York," Aunt Lu said. "The police will find them. Come, we'll walk back and look for them."
But though Mother Brown and Aunt Lu walked right past the store, they never thought that Bunny and Sue were inside.
"Oh, dear!" cried Aunt Lu, "I don't see where they can be!"
"Nor I," said Mrs. Brown. "Oh, if my children are lost!"
"If they are we'll soon find them," asserted Aunt Lu, looking up and down the street, but not seeing Bunny or Sue. "Here comes a policeman now," she went on. "We'll ask him."
But, though the policeman had seen many children on the street, he was not sure he had seen Bunny and Sue.
"However," he said, "the police station is not far from here. You had better go there and ask if they have any lost children. We pick up some every day, and maybe yours are there. Go to the police station. You'll find 'em there."
And to the police station went Mother Brown and Aunt Lu. They walked in toward a big, long desk, with a brass rail in front. Behind the desk sat a man dressed like a soldier, with gold braid on his cap.