"Oh, well, I'm used to it by this time," said the Gla.s.s Doll. "But tell me, who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I am a Candy Rabbit, and I guess I am going to be an Easter present,"

was the answer. And, surely enough, he was.

Later that night Madeline's mother opened the closet door. The Candy Rabbit saw her take down the Gla.s.s Doll, tip her upside down and sprinkle a little perfume on her fingers, which she rubbed on her hair.

"And now we shall hide the Easter baskets, so Madeline and Herbert may hunt for them and find them to-morrow morning," said the lady. "I must hide this Rabbit extra well, so Madeline will have a lot of fun searching for him."

"Put him behind the piano," said a man. He was the children's father.

"I will," said Mother, and that is where the Candy Rabbit was hidden.

Near him was placed a little basket filled with Easter eggs. Some of them were made of candy, and others were like those in the store--filled with pretty scenes.

"Those are the places I thought were Fairyland," said the Candy Rabbit to himself, as he looked at the basket of eggs. "I wish some Chicken or Duck were here for me to talk to. Eggs can't say very much."

And of course that was true. Not until an egg turns into a chicken can it move about and say things by cackling--or crowing, if it's a rooster instead of a hen.

"I suppose I might hop around the room and find some one to talk to,"

thought the Candy Rabbit to himself, when he noticed that he was left alone behind the piano with the basket of eggs. "But perhaps it would be better to wait, since I am a stranger here."

So the Candy Rabbit kept very still and quiet all night, and in the morning it was Easter Sunday.

Herbert and Madeline were up early, for it was one of the joys of their lives to hunt for Easter eggs. Eagerly they ran about the rooms, looking under chairs, on mantels, behind the phonograph and beneath the sofa.

"Oh, I've found one basket!" cried Herbert, as he saw a large one, filled with green curled wood and eggs, under the library table.

"And I've found another!" shouted Madeline, as, after rather a long search, she looked behind the piano. "I've found a basket and--and--Oh, Herbert! look what a lovely Candy Rabbit. Oh, I'm so glad!" and the little girl picked up the Candy Rabbit and fairly hugged him. The Candy Rabbit was very happy. He had now found some one to love him--some one to whom he could belong, as the Sawdust Doll belonged to the little girl Dorothy.

As Madeline took up her Easter basket and the Rabbit, Herbert, who was eating some of his candy eggs, called:

"Here come Dorothy and d.i.c.k over to show us their Easter baskets."

"And I'm going to show Dorothy my Candy Rabbit!" cried Madeline.

Running to the window, Madeline held up the Rabbit, and he, looking out of his gla.s.s eyes, saw a sight that gladdened his heart. In Dorothy's arms was the Sawdust Doll--the same Sawdust Doll who had lived in the store whence the Candy Rabbit had come.

As Dorothy and d.i.c.k came laughing into the room where Madeline and Herbert were, the children called to one another:

"Happy Easter! Happy Easter!"

CHAPTER III

THE BAD CAT

"What a pretty Candy Rabbit!" said Dorothy to Madeline. "Where did you get him?"

"He's one of my Easter presents," answered Madeline. "Herbert and I have just finished hunting for our baskets."

"Did you find them all, and all the eggs?" inquired d.i.c.k. "Dorothy and I got up early to hunt for ours."

"I think I found every one," replied Herbert. "But last year, I remember, I missed one big candy egg, and I didn't find it until a week later."

The children showed each other their holiday presents, and the Candy Rabbit was much admired. Dorothy and d.i.c.k took him up in their hands so they might see him better.

"Goodness! I hope they don't drop me," thought the Rabbit. "There isn't any rubber ball here for me to fall on, as there was in the store. I certainly hope they don't drop me!"

But Dorothy and d.i.c.k were very careful, and, after they had looked at and admired the Rabbit, he was put down on a chair not far from Dorothy's Sawdust Doll. The Candy Rabbit kept wishing that the children would go out of the room for a while, so he might talk to the Doll, whom he had not seen for a long time.

And, after a while, Madeline's mother called the children to show them an Easter present which she had received. Out of the room trooped the four children, leaving the Candy Rabbit and the Sawdust Doll together, with no one to watch what they said or did.

"Now I have a chance to talk to you!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. "I've just been waiting to ask how all my friends are at the toy store. And how are you? How did you get here? Do you like living in a house with children more than in the store? 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 Rabbit relating the latest news of the toy store, and the Sawdust Doll speaking of the nice home she had with Dorothy, and how kind d.i.c.k was to the White Rocking Horse.

Then the Rabbit wanted to know about the Lamb on Wheels and the Bold Tin Soldier, and, as the Sawdust Doll had heard from them lately, she told some of their adventures.

"I do wish I could see the Calico Clown and the Monkey on a Stick once more," sighed the Sawdust Doll. "They were certainly the jolliest toys I ever knew."

"Yes, they were," agreed the Candy Rabbit. "And I don't believe the Clown has yet found any one to answer his riddle about what makes more noise than a pig under a gate."

"Hush! Here come the children!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll in a low voice. Madeline and Herbert, Dorothy and d.i.c.k, having seen the present Madeline's mother had received, had come back into the room again.

"What shall we do now?" asked Madeline.

"Let's play with your Rabbit and my Doll," suggested Dorothy.

Madeline thought this would be nice, but as d.i.c.k did not care much about such fun he said he and Herbert would go back home and get out his Rocking Horse.

"And I'll get Arnold and his Tin Soldiers and we'll have some fun," he added. "Come on, Herb."

"If you see Mirabell, send her over here to play with us," called Dorothy to her brother, and d.i.c.k said he would do so. "Tell her to bring her Lamb on Wheels," she added.

The two little girls had good times playing with the Sawdust Doll and the Candy Rabbit, and, after a while, Madeline's mother brought in a plate of cookies for the little girls to eat.

"We'll have a play party," said Madeline. "I'll set my Candy Rabbit up here on the goldfish stand where he can watch us, for he can't eat anything, you know."

"And I'll set my Sawdust Doll over in this chair where she can see us,"

said Dorothy. "My Doll can eat make-believe things when I have a play party, but we won't pretend that now. We'll just eat the cookies ourselves."

"Yes," agreed Madeline. So she put her Candy Rabbit on the goldfish stand.