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Madeline thought this would be nice, but as Dick 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 Dick 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.

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 glass 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 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.

“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 glass 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 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.

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.