"I--I'm sort of hungry for candy," said Pete, in a low voice.

"So'm I," admitted Sam.

"And I guess I am, too," declared Tom. "I didn't know this Rabbit was good to eat. But, as long as he is, we'll divide him up and have a regular party. Come on over on my porch, fellows, and we'll eat the Candy Rabbit!"

Now, when the sweet chap heard this he was very much frightened. Of all his adventures this seemed the very worst!

Over to Tom's porch went the three boys, and they sat down.

"We'll divide this Candy Rabbit into three pieces," said Tom. He was just going to break off one of the ears when some one came out of the house and up behind the boys as they sat on the steps.

"What have you there, Tom?" asked a voice suddenly.

The three chums turned around. It was Tom's mother who had spoken.

"Oh, it's just a Candy Rabbit," Tom answered. "We're going to eat him."

"Where did you get him?" asked Tom's mother. "Let me see."

And when she saw the Candy Rabbit Tom's mother knew at once that it was no common Rabbit, such as you may buy in the five-and-ten-cent store.

The Candy Rabbit was a very fancy fellow indeed!

"Why, Tom!" exclaimed his mother.

"This Rabbit belongs to Madeline. I saw it over at her house when I called there one day. Did you take Madeline's Rabbit when you were in her house at the party? Oh, Tom, what a naughty boy! I am so sorry!"

She reached over and took the Candy Rabbit just in time, for Tom had been going to break off the ears.

"Why did you take it?" asked Tom's mother.

"Oh, er--just--because," he answered, squirming around. "d.i.c.k and Arnold had something, and I wanted something in my pocket. So I took the Rabbit."

"I must take it back and tell Madeline you are sorry, and you must tell her so yourself the next time you see her," said Tom's mother.

Tom's mother took the Easter toy back to Madeline, who had just missed him, and she and all the boys and girls still left at the party were hunting for him.

"Please forgive Tom for being so naughty as to take your Candy Rabbit,"

begged the boy's mother, and Madeline said she would.

"Oh, I am so glad to have you back!" cried Madeline, hugging her Candy Rabbit.

"And I am glad to get back," said the Rabbit, though of course he dared not speak aloud.

Madeline smoothed out the pink ribbon on the Bunny's neck. It had been crumpled in Tom's pocket. Then the little girl put her Rabbit away on a shelf in a closet while she helped her mother and the cook clear away the things after the party.

"Dear me, I wonder what will happen next," said the Candy Rabbit, out loud, for he knew no one could hear him in there.

"Why, has anything happened to you?" asked a voice.

"I should say so!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit. "But who are you, if I may ask?"

"Oh, I'm a match-safe Cat," was the answer, and then, his eyes having become used to the dark, the Candy Rabbit saw that he was sitting near a hollow porcelain Cat, used to hold burnt matches.

"Dear me, how strange!" murmured the Bunny.

"It is no stranger to see a Cat full of burnt matches than it is to see a Candy Rabbit with pink gla.s.s eyes," was the answer.

"I suppose not," agreed the Candy Bunny.

Then the Rabbit and the Cat became good friends and told each other stories there in the dark closet.

"My! you certainly have had some adventures," mewed the Cat, when she had heard about the Bunny's trip on the tail of a kite.

"Did nothing exciting ever happen to you?" the Rabbit wanted to know.

"Yes, once," replied the Cat. "I am hollow, as you see, and I am generally filled with burnt wooden matches.

"Well, one day, somebody put a blazing match in me by mistake, and, in an instant, all the partly burnt matches were on fire. There I was, all burning up inside."

"Oh, that must have been dreadful!" cried the Candy Rabbit.

"It was, until Madeline's mother threw a gla.s.s of water over me and put out the fire," said the Cat. "Then I was all right, except for being blackened and smoked. Of course it doesn't show in the dark, but it's there all the same."

The Candy Rabbit stayed in the closet with the Porcelain Cat all night, and the two were company for one another. The next day Madeline took her Easter toy for a ride in the doll carriage, and Dorothy had her Sawdust pet with her. The little girls talked about the party.

"Wouldn't it have been dreadful if Tom had eaten your Rabbit?" asked Dorothy.

"Terribly dreadful!" said Madeline. "I am glad it didn't happen."

"And I'm glad, too," thought the Candy Rabbit. "I hope my adventures are over now."

But they were not, though I have no room to tell you any more. I will just mention a few. Once Herbert and d.i.c.k took the Candy Rabbit and gave him a ride in Herbert's toy train of cars. But the engine went so fast that the train ran off the track. The Candy Rabbit was thrown off, and a little piece of sugar was chipped off one of his paws. But that did not hurt very much.

And, another time, the Candy Rabbit was almost run over by d.i.c.k, who was gliding around on roller skates. Only that Patrick, the gardener, caught the Bunny out of the way just in time, the sweet chap would have been crushed.

One day Herbert called to Madeline and said:

"Daddy is going to bring me a present from the store to-day."

"Is he? What kind?" asked Madeline. "Is it going to be a Jumping Jack?"

"That, or something just as funny," Herbert answered. "I want something that moves and jumps. Candy Rabbits are very nice, but I want something livelier."

"Will you let me see it when you get it?" asked his sister.

"Yes," promised Herbert. And what fun he had with his toy will be told to you in the next book, to be called: "The Story of a Monkey on a Stick."

As for the Candy Rabbit, I might add that he grew sweeter and sweeter each day, and he and Madeline lived happily forever after. Though one of his ears was bent, and a piece chipped off one paw, that did not matter.

Madeline loved her Bunny very much.