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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?”

CHAPTER X

IN A BOY’S POCKET

“Are you hurt?” asked the Sawdust Doll anxiously, looking with sympathy at the Candy Rabbit. “Let me help you up!”

“Oh, thank you, I can get up myself,” answered the sugary chap. “And I am not at all hurt. The table cloth was soft.”

He was just going to get up and hop over to the Doll when, all at once, the Sawdust toy exclaimed:

“Be quiet! Here come the children back!”

And into the room trooped the boys and girls, having finished eating the ice cream and cake.

“Oh, look at my Bunny!” cried Madeline. “Somebody jiggled him over on his side.”

She set him up straight again, near the Sawdust Doll, and then she helped the other children have fun in more games. After a while Dick and Arnold went off in a corner by themselves, and began playing with Arnold’s Bold Tin Soldier. While they were doing this a boy named Tom saw them.

“I wonder what they are doing?” thought Tom. “I wonder what they are looking at? It’s something Arnold has in his pocket. I wish I had something in my pocket to play with. Maybe I can find something!”

I am sorry to say Tom was not always a good boy. Sometimes he was cross and unpleasant. He would pull the hair of little girls, though I hardly believe he meant to hurt them. He only did it to tease them.

Tom saw Madeline’s Candy Rabbit on the table, and, as the other boys and girls were just then in another room, no one saw what Tom did. Sneaking up to the table, Tom reached over, took the Candy Rabbit, and put him in his pocket.

“Now I have something to play with,” whispered Tom to himself.

Tom had many other things in his pocket. There was a small rubber ball, some pieces of string, a broken knife, two or three nails, some round, shiny pieces of tin, a whistle that wouldn’t whistle, a red stone, a yellow stone, and many other odds and ends. Down among these objects the Candy Rabbit was pushed and jammed.

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.

“Oh-oo-o-oh!” exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. “Look at him!”

“Isn’t he terrible!” said the Wooden Doll.

“If we could only do something to stop him!” sighed the Celluloid Doll. But they could do nothing.

Watching his chance, Tom hurried out of Madeline’s house, carrying with him the Easter present. And as for the poor Candy Rabbit, he did not know what to do. He could not get out of that boy’s pocket, no matter how hard he tried.

“I’ll show this Candy Rabbit to Sam and Pete,” said Tom to himself, as he hurried down the street. “We’ll have some fun with it.”

Sam and Pete were two boys with whom Tom played. Tom looked for them as he ran down the street, the Candy Rabbit jiggling around among the things in his pocket.