"When did you last see her?" asked Charlie. "Maybe she went downstairs."

"No, she didn't, for I saw her opening the big trunk and taking clothes
out to dress up in. Besides she couldn't get downstairs, for you boys
pulled two trunks in front of the stairs for a fort."

"So we did," said Charlie. "She couldn't have gone down without moving
the trunks, and they haven't been moved."

"Well, then she must be up here somewhere," said Bunny. "Maybe she's
shut up in the big trunk."

"That's dreadful! Call and let's see if she is in there," said Rose.

Bunny went close to the big trunk--the largest, in the attic--and then
he called as loudly as he could:

"Are you in there, Sue?"

Back came the answer, very faintly:

"Yes, I'm here, Bunny! Please get me out! I'm locked in!"

"She's locked in!" cried Charlie. "We must open the trunk and get her
out! Come on, Bunny!"

Both boys grasped the lid of the trunk.

"Why it's locked!" cried Rose. "You can't open it without unlocking it.
Let's see if we can find some keys."

Eagerly the children ran about the attic, taking keys from all the
trunks they saw. But either these keys did not fit in the locked one
where Sue was shut up, or the fingers of Bunny, Rose and Charlie were
too small to fit them properly in the locks.

"We'd better call Mrs. Preston," said Bunny, for he could hear Sue
crying now, inside the trunk. And Sue was a brave little girl, who did
not often cry.

"We'd better go down and tell her," suggested Rose. "She'll never hear
us from up here."

"Let's go down then!" cried Bunny.

He and Charlie soon pulled away from the attic stairs the two trunks
they had placed there to make a fort. Down to the kitchen, where Mrs.
Preston was making pies, hurried the three children.

"What? Through playing so soon?" asked Mrs. Preston. "I thought you'd be
much longer than this. I haven't your lunch for you ready yet. But where
is Sue?" she asked, not seeing Bunny's sister.

"She--she's locked in a trunk in the attic--the big trunk," explained
Charlie, "an' she's hollerin' like anything, but we can't get her out!"

"Locked in that trunk! Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Preston. "That trunk
shuts with a spring lock. Now I wonder where the key to it is."

"Here's a lot of keys we found!" said Bunny, holding out those he and
Charlie had gathered from the other trunks.

"I'll try those, but I'm afraid they won't fit," said Mrs. Preston,
hurrying up to the attic, foll