After the talk about the dresses and suits, Mr. Treadwell went on with, the rehearsal, or practice.  I have told you something of what the play was to be about, but changes were made in it from time to time, during practice, just as changes are made in real plays.  It was found that one boy could speak a piece better than another boy, so he was allowed to do this, while the first boy, perhaps, was given a funny dance to do.  The same with the girls—­some could sing better than others.  Most of the solo singing in the play was to be done by Lucile Clayton.  She had a very sweet, clear voice, and of course she had had more practice than any of the others.

Of course all the boys wished they could do some of the acrobatic work that Mart was to do on the stage.  But though some of the lads of Bellemere, like Bunny Brown, were pretty good at turning somersaults or flipflops, none of them was equal to Mart, who had been on the stage for several years.  But he was training Bunny, Harry Bentley, Charlie Star and George Watson to do a leap-frog dance which Mr. Treadwell said would be very funny.

Mr. Treadwell was not only the author of the little play, but he was also the stage director; that is, he told the boys and girls what to do and when to do it.  In this he was helped by Lucile and Mart.  These three performers, who had been in such bad luck when the vaudeville troupe broke up, were now quite happy again.  Mr. Treadwell and Mart were working for Mr. Brown, and though they did not make as much money as when they had been acting in theaters, still they had an easier time.  Lucile, too, liked it at Mrs. Brown’s.

Of course the two “waifs” as they were sometimes called, wished they could find out where there uncle and aunt were.  They also wanted to find their blind uncle.  But, so far, no trace of any of them was to be had, though many letters were written by Mr. Brown and Mr. Treadwell.

Mr. Treadwell was a very busy man.  After he finished work at Mr. Brown’s office he would help the children rehearse for the farm play.  In the play Mr. Treadwell was to take several parts.  In one act he was a tramp, and in another a farmer.  Then, too, he took the character of a man from the city, and later he did a number of impersonations, using the costumes he had made use of in the various theaters.

“Don’t you think we could have our dog Splash in the play?” asked Bunny of Mr. Treadwell one afternoon when the rehearsal was finished.

“Why, yes, I think so,” was the answer.  “I’ll be thinking up a part for him.  Has he good, strong teeth?”

“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Sue, who was standing beside Bunny.  “He has terrible strong teeth!  You ought to see him bite a bone!”

“Well, I don’t know that I want him to bite a bone on the stage,” said Mr. Treadwell, with a laugh.  “But we’ll see about it.”

Some days after that, during which time Mr. Treadwell spent many hours with Splash alone in the stable, Bunny and Sue were quite surprised on coming from school to hear loud barking in their yard.