The red-headed girl, with the freckles on her nose, and a dimple in her
chin, didn't stop until she was on the top floor of the big house where
Toby's howls couldn't be heard. She opened the door of a dark room, and
went in, slamming and locking the door after her.
"There, now I guess he can't find us!" she exclaimed.
Then to Bumper, she turned and began crooning: "You poor little rabbit!
Did Toby hurt you? Don't be frightened now. I won't let him have you
again. I'll buy you if it takes all my Christmas money. You're mine now!"
You can never imagine how these words soothed Bumper's ruffled feelings.
It was like being rescued from a terrible giant who intended to dash out
your brains and eat you for supper. Bumper's heart began to beat slower
and slower until pretty soon it wasn't going any faster than the ticking
of the clock outside in the hallway.
They sat there in the dark room for a long time, the girl rubbing Bumper's
head and back and crooning gently to him. Then a noise outside--the sound
of approaching footsteps--alarmed the white rabbit again.
"Edith!" a voice called. "Edith, are you up here?"
It was Mary, her cousin, calling, and the red-haired girl gently pushed
open the door, and whispered.
"I'm in here, cousin Mary. Where's Toby?"
"He's looking for you. I think you'd better get out of the house before he
finds you. Take Bumper with you, and we'll buy him something else to keep
him quiet."
"Then I can keep him?--call him really and truly mine?"
"Yes, if you can get away with him. Toby isn't old enough yet for pets."
"He's old enough," sniffed Edith, "but he's been spoilt, and don't know
how to treat them. If he ever lays hands on my rabbit again, I'll box his
ears so hard he'll never forget it. That's what I'll do!"
Mary seemed to concur in this, for she smiled, and rubbed Bumper's head
before adding. "He'd raise an awful howl, I suppose, if he knew you were
here. You'd better go home now. You can get through the backyard without
Toby seeing you."
"Let him see me if he likes," retorted Edith, shaking her red curls and
tilting her freckled nose upward. "I won't let him have the rabbit. Aunt
Helen ought to spank him. That's what he deserves."
Mary walked ahead down the stairs to see if Toby was around, and then when
they reached the kitchen Edith climbed through an open window into the
backyard. There was a thick hedge around the yard, and back of that
another yard which smelt so sweet with flowers and green lawn that Bumper
raised his head and sniffed.
My, what a whiff that was! There was a vegetable garden hidden back of the
rose bushes, filled with crisp lettuce, golden carrots, emerald-green
cabbages, blood-red beets, blanching celery, peas, beans, corn, potatoes,
and green grass everywhere. It was a whiff from Rabbit Arcady, and Bumper
forgot all the dangers he had been through.
"No, no, you mustn't jump out of my arms!" warned Edith when he struggled
to get down and roll around in the green grass. "Toby might be looking."
There was an opening in the thick hedge, and through this the red-haired
girl crawled into the second garden. If anything, this was a more
wonderful garden than the first. The odors were intoxicating. There were
flowers and birds and trees as well as succulent vegetables. A most
wonderful elm tree spread out like an umbrella and shaded the whole lawn.
Beneath this the girl stopped a moment, and let Bumper nibble at the green
grass.
For a city rabbit who had never seen green grass growing, and had only
tasted of vegetables several days or a week old, this visit to the garden
was like a foretaste of what all rabbits must consider heaven. Nothing
Bumper had ever eaten tasted quite so good as that grass, and when the
girl picked a fresh, crisp carrot from the garden he couldn't believe it
was anything but a magic carrot. It was so sweet and juicy that it made
his mouth water.
"Now you must come in the house," Edith said after he had eaten so much
that he was in danger of exploding like an over ripe tomato. "I'm going to
keep you right in my bedroom to-night. Then daddy will make a house for
you in the morning."
[Illustration: He couldn't believe it was anything but a magic carrot]
Bumper spent the night in a box lined with fresh, green grass at the foot
of the little girl's bed, but not until after he had met another person
whom he feared and disliked almost as much as the bad boy called Toby. She
was a cross old nurse, who looked after Edith, and she didn't like
rabbits--not live ones. She admired Bumper's soft, white hair, and
remarked:
"Wouldn't it make a handsome fur neck scarf? I wonder how much it would
cost."
Edith snatched the rabbit from her hands. "You wicked old thing!" she
exclaimed. "I believe you'd kill Bumper just for his fur."
"What a funny little girl you are," the nurse laughed. "What are rabbits
for if you can't use their skins for furs."
With that Edith clapped Bumper in the box, and sat on the lid. "I'm going
to sit there until you go," she said.
The nurse laughed, and when she finally left the room the red-haired girl
jumped up and locked the door. Then she patted Bumper again before
slipping in bed for the night.
It was early morning before the rabbit heard another word from her. The
moon peeking in through the window made Bumper feel quite at home, and
with it came the sweet aroma of that garden, intoxicating smells of roses,
green grass and succulent vegetables.
"Are you there, little Bumper?" the girl called just as the sun rose. She
was in her thin nightie, with her wonderful braids of red hair streaming
down her back. Bumper thumped on the box with both hind feet to express
his delight at seeing her again.
"Now you're coming to bed with me," she added. And sure enough, she lifted
the white rabbit from the box and carried him to her bed. It was soft and
warm under the sheets, and Bumper began playing hide-and-seek with her
toes, making her shout and giggle every time his whiskers rubbed against
one. It must have been the noise they made that attracted the nurse, for
she suddenly knocked on the door and tried to open it.
Edith sprang out of bed, and put the rabbit in his box before she opened
the door. "Why was that door locked?" asked the nurse severely.
"Because," replied Edith saucily, "I didn't want you snooping in here in
the night to steal bunny."
"Well, of all things! If you ever do that again, I'll tell your mother!
Suppose the house took fire with you locked in here."
"I'd know enough to unlock the door, wouldn't I?" retorted the girl.
The nurse went to the bed and threw back the sheets to air them. Then, in
angry amazement, she exclaimed: "You've had that dirty beast in the bed!
Now don't tell me a story."
"Yes, Nursy, and we had a beautiful time playing hide-and-seek under the
bedclothes."
The nurse stared hard at Edith, and then shook her head. "You're a naughty
girl, and I'll give the rabbit to Carlo. See if I don't?"
This didn't frighten the girl a bit, and she laughed in the nurse's face;
but it gave Bumper such a shock that he missed three heart beats and one
of his whiskers, for he knew Carlo was the dog he had heard barking all
night long.