first
frightened one. But by the time Bunny and Mr. Flynt reached her the
shower of boxes was over and the little girl took down her hands from
over her head.

"Did anything break?" asked Sue, looking about her. "Oh, dear, what a
terrible mess!" she cried.

"Don't worry about that, child!" exclaimed Mrs. Golden. "What if a few
boxes are broken open? It's you I'm thinking of."

"Oh, I'm all right!" Sue said, and she laughed a little.

And when they came to look her over nothing worse had happened than that
she had a few bumps and bruises. And they were not very hard ones, for
the boxes were of pasteboard and not wood.

And only one or two of the oatmeal packages were split open, so that not
much was lost in that way. So, take it all in all, the accident was a
very little one, though it made a great deal of excitement for the time
being.

"You oughtn't to reach up for such high things, little girl," said Mr.
Flynt, when he had helped pick up the packages.

"No, sir, I guess I oughtn't," agreed Sue. "But George wanted one and I
thought I could get it."

"You call me when you want things from a high shelf," said Bunny, going
back to the task of opening the box of prunes. "I'm a good climber."

"I wasn't climbing, I was reaching," answered Sue, as if that made a lot
of difference. "Here's your oatmeal, George," she added, and the
whistling boy came back to the counter and got it.

Bunny and Sue stayed in the store for an hour or more after the fall of
the oatmeal boxes. Bunny finished opening the box of prunes, and he and
Sue waited on several customers, for Mrs. Golden seemed to be quite busy
talking to Mr. Flynt in the back room. And it was not a pleasant talk,
either, as Bunny and Sue guessed when they caught glimpses now and then
of Mrs. Golden wiping tears from her eyes.

Finally the grocery man came out of the back room with Mrs. Golden. He
was saying, so that the children could hear:

"Now you'd better take my advice, Mrs. Golden, and sell out your store
here. You'll never make it pay, and you keep on owing us more money all
the while. I know you're trying to do your best, but you must either
pay us or we'll have to take our things back and sell you out besides
for the rest that you owe us.

"Take my advice and sell out before you're sold out. It will be better
that way. We can't wait any longer. This is a good little store, but you
don't make it pay."

"Maybe I could if my son Philip were to come b