Laura Lee Hope

“ What have you?" cried the voice of a little girl, as the lady entered the house with the bundle in which the Candy Rabbit was wrapped.
"Is it something good to eat?" asked a boy's voice.
"Now, Herbert and Madeline, you must not ask too many questions," said their mother, with a laugh. "This isn't exactly Christmas, you know, but it will soon be Easter, and—"
"Oh, I know what it is !" cried the little girl, whose name was Madeline. "It's the eggs and baskets we have to hunt for on Easter morning, Herbert! Oh, what fun!" ”

“ He's my Candy Rabbit, all right!"
"Then I am glad you have him back, little girl," said Peddler Joe. "Rosa must have take him by mistook, you know —she pick him up when she go around with the organ."
Then he told how his little niece had found the Rabbit, and, thinking the toy belonged to no one, had brought it home.
"I buy her another Rabbit so she not be feeling bad," said Joe, with a smile. "She did not mean to take yours, little girl. And now maybe you want some needles or pins?" he said to Madeline's mother. ”

“ Madeline tried to get the green stain off her Rabbit's ear, but it would not come out.
"Why don't you scrape it off?" asked Herbert.
"Why, I might scrape off half his ear! No, indeed!" Madeline said.
"Well, wash it off," suggested Dick, who had come over to play with Herbert. "Take him up to the bathroom and wash his ear. My mother washes my ears."
"Pooh! your ears aren't made of candy," said Madeline.
"No. And I'm glad they're not, or the fellows would be biting pieces off all the while," laughed Dick.
"Well, I guess I won't wash my Candy Rabbit—at least not just yet," said Madeline. ”

“ He took the Candy Rabbit from his pocket and held him up.
"That's a dandy!" exclaimed Pete.
"Where'd you get him?" asked Sam.
"Oh, I borrowed him at a party," Tom answered.
"Let's see it closer," begged Sam, and Tom handed over the Candy Rabbit.
"Why, he's good to eat!" cried Sam, when he had the Rabbit in his hands. "He's made of sugar, and he's good to eat!"
Tom looked at Sam and then at Pete. Then all three of the boys looked at each other. ”

“ CHAPTER VIII IN A WHEELBARROW
Madeline screamed, Mirabell screamed, and Dorothy screamed. The three little girls screamed together when they saw the Candy Rabbit fall into the bathtub. And, even under water as his ears were, the Candy Rabbit heard them.
"Well, I hope they do something more than yell," thought the poor, sugary chap. "If they don't pull me out pretty soon I'll melt, as well as drown, and I dare not try to swim when they're looking at me!"
You know what the rule is in Make-Believe Toyland—none of the things dare move when human eyes look at them. ”

“ Madeline's mother was not at home, and the cook was too busy in the kitchen to bother with giving pennies to organ grinders, though she might have done so if she had had time and had had plenty of pennies.
As for Madeline and Dorothy and Mirabell, they had given one look down the street when they heard the hand-organ music. Then, as they saw he had no monkey with him, Madeline said:
"Oh, a hand-organ isn't any fun unless it has a monkey. We don't want to bother waiting to see this one. Come on and play." ”

“ So that's the way you feel about it, is it?" growled the cat. "Well, I'm going to fix you!"
"How?" asked the Candy Rabbit, wondering what was going to happen. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to carry you off to the fields and lose you in the tall grass," was the answer. "Then the next time I want to catch a goldfish you will not give the alarm."
"Oh, please don't take me away!" begged the Candy Rabbit.
"Yes, I will!" said the cat. "I'll carry you away by that pink ribbon around your neck." ”

“ Tell me all about it!"
"Goodness!" laughed the Candy Rabbit. "You talk as fast as a phonograph Doll when she has been wound up tight."
"Well, we'll have to talk fast if we want to tell each other anything before those children get back," said the Sawdust Doll. "Now you tell me your adventures, and then I'll tell you mine."
The two toy friends talked for some time, the Candy Babbit relating the latest news of the toy store, and the Sawdust Doll speaking of the nice home she had with Dorothy, and how kind Dick was to the White Rocking Horse. ”

“ But the cat was not after the Doll. With another jump Tom landed on the table beside the bowl of goldfish.
"Goodness sakes alive! my time has come," thought the poor frightened Candy Rabbit. "The cat is going to eat me!"
But Tom was not after a Candy Rabbit. His greedy eyes were on the swimming goldfish in the open glass bowl. Dorothy and Madeline sat with their backs to the little table on which stood the bowl of fish and the Candy Rabbit. The little girls were busy talking. ”

“ The Chocolate Rabbit gave a loud laugh.
"He doesn't even know his own store," said this dark-complexioned chap. "Why, my dear fellow," he went on, "the Easter Novelty Counter is just around the corner from the toy section, where you have lived so long. The Calico Clown, the Monkey on a Stick and the other friends you speak of are there. You are not very far away from them." ”

“ Dorothy's Sawdust Doll was propped up in a chair not far from the goldfish. Then the two little girls began to eat the cookies.
While this was going on a bad cat had sneaked into the room. The cat was a big fellow, and he often got into mischief. He sometimes chased birds, and, more than once, Patrick, the gardener at Dick and Dorothy's house, had driven him away from the coops where the little chickens lived with the old hen.
"Goodness, I hope that cat isn't after me!" thought the Candy Rabbit. ”

“ Is anything wrong?" she asked, rather surprised.
"Your nose is dabbed with flour," went on Patrick.
"Oh, that!" laughed the cook. "You see, Madeline is going to have a party, and I'm so busy making cookies and cakes that it's a wonder flour isn't all over my face as well as on my nose. But what have you there?" she asked, seeing the Bunny in Patrick's hand.
"Madeline's Candy Rabbit," answered the gardener. "I don't know how it got in my barrow of grass, but I brought him back. Is Madeline in?" ”

“ Once more he rubbed his paws over his pink glass eyes.
"I have heard of many strange things," he said to himself. "The Sawdust Doll told some of her queer adventures, and so did the White Rocking Horse and the Bold Tin Soldier. But never, in all my life, did I ever see a chocolate egg with a glass window and a little chicken and a duck inside seesawing and teeter-tautering! I think I had better go to the doctor's, something must be the matter with me!"
"What's the matter with you?" ”

“ And while the little girls who had come to Madeline's party were smoothing out their dresses and looking at their dolls and talking to one another, Arnold walked off with Dick to a corner of the room.
"Look what I have!" whispered Arnold, showing the Bold Tin Soldier.
"Why did you bring him?" Dick wanted to know.
"So if we don't like the games the girls play we can go off in a room by ourselves and have fun with my Soldier," was the answer. "But maybe we'll have some fun, anyhow."
"Let me hold your Soldier for a while," begged Dick, and Arnold handed over the Captain. ”

“ The Fuzzy Rabbit stopped waving his ears and became quiet. The Candy Rabbit no longer talked to the Chocolate Bunny. A girl clerk led a lady, in a warm fur coat, over toward the counter.
"Here are some fine Easter presents," said the girl. "We have rabbits of all kinds."
[Pg 12]
"I want a large one for a little girl," said the lady. "I promised to send Madeline a nice Bunny." And then the Candy Rabbit felt himself being picked up and looked at. ”

“ This peddler man went about from house to house selling notions to such as wanted to buy them.
He, too, had been about all day, peddling with his basket, and he reached [Pg 68] home about the same time as did his brother, the organ grinder, and the little girl.
The family had supper, and, after that, Rosa brought out the Candy Rabbit. All the while the Bunny had been in her pocket, and the sweet chap did not like it very much.
"I want to be out where I can see things," murmured the Rabbit. "I want to see what is happening. It is dreadful to be kidnapped like this and carried away from home!" ”

“ Mirabell's mother, who was Madeline's Aunt Emma, was the lady who had bought the Candy Rabbit.
"Here is Madeline's Easter present that I promised her." said Mirabell's mother, handing the wrapped-up Bunny to Madeline's mother. "And there are some eggs in a basket for Herbert. Hide them away from the children until to-morrow." ”

“ It was a gold thimble that the children were playing with, and the Sawdust Doll, catching sight of her reflection in the glass over one of the pictures in the room, noted this fact.
"That golden gleam against the blue of my ribbon is certainly very pretty and be [Pg 105] coming," she thought. "I hope Dorothy will notice it and will get a gold ornament for my hair. I like to be a toy, but sometimes it is a great nuisance not to be able to tell your little girl and boy parents what you would like to have them do." ”

“ The only ones who saw Tom hurry away with the Candy Rabbit were the little girls' dolls. The Sawdust Doll, a Celluloid Doll belonging to Mirabell, and an old snub-nosed Wooden Doll, that Madeline had brought down from the attic, were on the table when Tom took the Candy Rabbit away in his pocket. ”

“ Madeline told her mother how the Rabbit had fallen out of the window. Then the little girl got a pretty pink ribbon, and, after tying it on his neck, she again showed her Easter present to Mirabell and Dorothy.
"He looks as good as new," said Mirabell.
"Yes," agreed Dorothy. "I guess falling into the bathtub and the wheelbarrow of grass did him good."
"And we'll have lots of fun at the party," said Madeline. "Now I will put [Pg 101] my Rabbit away, and we'll get ready for a good time."
The Rabbit was set on a shelf in a dark closet. ”