Bumper, The White Rabbit | Page 9

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