"Yes, it was over in Mrs. Preston's attic. But it was my own fault, I never should have got in the trunk, for it closed with a spring lock and they had to get a carpenter to saw me out."
"Oh! And spoil Mrs. Preston's trunk?"
"'Tisn't spoiled," said Bunny. "She's going to let us use it for a dog kennel."
"And it will make such a nice one for Splash," said Sue. "You see, we can put hinges on the little square place the carpenter cut out to make a hole for me to get through, and we can make something fast to it that Splash can get hold of with his teeth, like a knob, so he can pull the door shut when it rains. It will be awful nice. I don't mind having been shut up a bit when I think of Splash."
"But how did it all happen?" asked Mrs. Brown, while her husband and Mr. Bixby were talking together.
The children told of Sue's adventure and of Charlie and Rose, and of the big porch and of the lunch.
"But what does Mr. Bixby want, Mother? Is he really going to take Tom away from us?" asked Sue.
"I don't know, my little girl. I hope not. But he seems to have the law on his side."
"Well, you have your way of looking at it and I have mine," Mr. Bixby was saying to Mr. Brown. "I hired this boy from the poorhouse and agreed to pay him certain wages. Part he keeps for himself and the rest goes to the poorhouse managers for his board in the Winter when he can't work.
"Then this boy ups and leaves me and comes to you. It isn't fair, and I'm not getting the worth of the money I paid. For though he is a lazy chap I managed to get some chores out of him."