This was a round table on which stood a bowl of real, live goldfish. The fish swam around in the water, and now and then they stopped swimming to look out through the gla.s.s with their big, round eyes. The top of the goldfish globe was open, and sometimes Madeline was allowed to feed the fish when her mother stood by. The fish ate tiny bits of biscuit bought for them at the fish, bird and dog store.

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 d.i.c.k 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.

"Mercy! I hope the cat doesn't carry me off, the way the dog Carlo once did," thought the Sawdust Doll.

But the bad cat was paying no attention to either the Doll or the Rabbit. The cat's eyes were on the live goldfish in the gla.s.s bowl, and, when I tell you that cats are very fond of fish, you can guess what is going to happen.

With a quick, silent spring, making no noise on his soft, padded paws, the cat first jumped into the chair beside the Sawdust Doll.

"Oh, dear me, he certainly is going to carry me off!" thought the Doll.

"I wish I dared scream!"

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 gla.s.s 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.

All of a sudden Tom stood up on his hind legs and put his forepaws on the edge of the bowl. As he did this the fish began swimming around swiftly, very much frightened, indeed, just as you may have seen a canary bird flutter in a cage when some cat came too close.

"Oh, he isn't after me--he's after the fish!" thought the Candy Rabbit.

"Oh, the poor fish! I wish I could save them!"

Tom was switching his tail to and fro, as cats always do when they are about to catch a bird, a fish or anything alive. The fish were swimming about faster and faster inside their bowl of water. They could make no noise. Some fish, such as catfish, can make a little sound out of water, and so can the fish called grunters, but I never heard of any other fish making any noise. Though of course they may be able to talk among themselves, for all I know.

Standing with his forepaws on the edge of the gla.s.s bowl, Tom dipped one paw down toward the water to get a fish. His tail kept on switching to and fro, and, all at once, it switched against the Candy Rabbit and tilted the Bunny over toward the gla.s.s bowl.

"Tinkle-tinkle! Tink!" went the hard ears of the Candy Rabbit against the gla.s.s, making a noise like the ringing of a little bell.

"What's that?" suddenly cried Madeline, turning from the table where she sat with Dorothy eating cookies.

Dorothy also turned and looked. The two little girls saw Tom up on the goldfish table.

"Oh, you bad cat, get down from there!" cried Madeline, and she looked for something to throw at Tom. "Get away from our fish!" she cried.

The cat paused a moment, and then, seeing he would be caught if he tried to get a fish, down he jumped, with a last, angry switch of his tail at the Candy Rabbit.

"That was all your fault!" hissed the cat to the Bunny in a whisper. "If you hadn't made a noise they wouldn't have seen me. I'll fix you for that, Mr. Candy Rabbit!"

CHAPTER IV

UP IN THE AIR

Madeline and Dorothy were so surprised at first at seeing the bad cat in the room that they did not know what to do, except that Madeline called "Scat!" to him.

But when the cat jumped down and started to run out of the room, the little girls began to talk very fast.

"Oh, wasn't he a bold thing!" cried Madeline.

"Did he get any of your goldfish?" Dorothy asked.

She and Madeline hurried over to the bowl and counted the swimming fishes.

"No, there are five there, and that's all we had," said Madeline. "The naughty cat didn't get any."

"What do you suppose made that noise like the ringing of a bell?" asked Dorothy.

"It was the Candy Rabbit," answered Madeline. "Look! He fell over against the gla.s.s bowl, and, lots of times, when I've been feeding the fish and have struck the bowl, it has rung like a bell. The Candy Rabbit did that, and that's what made me look around."

"Wouldn't it have been funny if the Rabbit had made the bowl tinkle all by himself?" asked Dorothy, with a laugh.

"Yes. But he couldn't," said Madeline.

And, now I come to think of it, maybe the Candy Rabbit did topple over by himself, to strike against the bowl and so cause Dorothy and Madeline to turn around in time to stop the bad cat from getting the goldfish.

Mind you, I am not saying for sure that this happened. The cat's tail certainly brushed against the Candy Rabbit, but the sweet chap may have tinkled against the gla.s.s globe himself. He surely wanted to save the fish from being eaten.

During the rest of Easter Sunday the children played quietly with their toys. Mirabell and Arnold, the other little boy and girl, came over to Madeline's house with their gifts and every one had a happy time.

The Candy Rabbit was looked at over and over again, but, though he liked this and was glad and happy he had come to live with Madeline, yet he could not help worrying about what the cat had said.

"I wonder if a cat can do anything to me," thought the sweet chap, over and over again. "I must be on the watch. He may try to sneak in again."

But, as the days pa.s.sed and nothing happened, the Candy Rabbit did not worry so much, nor think so much about it. He saw nothing more of the cat.

Madeline took very good care of her Candy Rabbit. She got a piece of pink ribbon and tied it around her Easter toy's neck, making him look very pretty.

"Now I am as stylish as Dorothy's Sawdust Doll, who has a blue ribbon on her hair," thought the Candy Rabbit.

And because of that very same pink ribbon something dreadful happened a few days later. I will tell you about it. After Easter the weather gradually became warmer and sunnier. Doors and windows could be left open, and the flowers in the yard began to blossom.

One day the Candy Rabbit was placed by Madeline on a chair in the dining room, near the bowl of goldfish on their little round table. The Sawdust Doll was not in the room, for Dorothy had her toy out in her own yard playing. The Candy Rabbit was lonesome, for he did not know how to talk to the goldfish.

All of a sudden, in through the open window, jumped the same bad cat that had been there before. His tail was lashing to and fro, and his whiskers were wiggling up and down.

"Meow!" said the cat.

"Oh, dear, here he is again!" said the Candy Rabbit, and, being able, as all toys are, to speak and understand animal language, the Candy Rabbit went on:

"Have you come to try to catch a goldfish, Mr. Tom?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "It Was Not My Fault," Said Candy Rabbit.