“He will melt if you leave him on that shelf near the hot stove,” went on the cook.  “Look, one of his ears is drooping!”

“Oh, dear!” screamed Madeline, and, dropping the spoon, she caught her Easter toy from the shelf.

It was only just in time, too, for the poor Rabbit was just beginning to melt.  In fact, one of his ears did soften and twist over to one side a little.  But Madeline quickly took him out on the cool porch, and the Rabbit felt better.  However, that queer twist, or droop, stayed in one ear—­not the one with the grass-stain on, but the other.

“I don’t care,” Madeline said, when her toy was cool and all right again.  “It makes him look different from the other Candy Rabbits to have a twisted ear.  It’s so funny!”

Happy days followed for the Bunny.  The children played sometimes in one house and sometimes in another, taking their toys with them, and sometimes the Rabbit had a chance to talk to the Sawdust Doll, the Bold Tin Soldier, the White Rocking Horse or the Lamb on Wheels, for the children would often leave their toys together, as the boys and girls went out to play in the yards or on the verandas.

“I wonder how the Calico Clown is getting along,” said the Candy Rabbit to the Sawdust Doll on one of the days when they were together.  They were on the porch of Madeline’s house, and Madeline, Mirabell and Dorothy were around in the back yard playing in a sand pile.

“I should like to see him, and also the Monkey on a Stick,” said the Doll.  “Hark!  What’s that?” she suddenly asked, as strains of music were heard.

“It’s a hand organ, and here comes a man playing it,” said the Candy Rabbit.

“Has he a monkey with him to gather pennies in his hat?” asked the Sawdust Doll.

“No.  But he has a little girl with him.  She has a basket.  I guess she gathers pennies in that.  Maybe the organ man had a monkey but it ran away,” suggested the Rabbit.

“Maybe,” agreed the Doll.  “Oh, isn’t that nice music!” she cried.  “It makes me feel like dancing!”

The hand-organ man was, indeed, playing a nice tune.  The girl who was with him came into the yard and up the steps, holding out her basket ready for pennies.  The little girls being in the back yard, no one was near the front of the house.

“Ah, a Candy Rabbit and a Sawdust Doll!” exclaimed the organ man’s girl.  “Nobody seems to want them.  I have a doll of my own, but I have no Candy Rabbit.  I think I will take this one.  I would rather have him than pennies!”

And, looking quickly here and there to see if any one was going to toss her a penny, but seeing no one, the hand-organ man’s little girl picked up the Candy Rabbit, tucked it under her apron, and quickly went down the steps again.

“Well, of all things!” thought the Candy Rabbit, as he felt himself being taken away in this fashion.  “Of all things!  What is this hand-organ girl going to do with me?”