"Why," he said, "I do believe that good-for-nothing rascal broke my saw on purpose, so he wouldn't have to work."
Peter Mink waited several days before he knocked at Mrs. Rabbit's door again. And when he did at last come back, he first made sure that her husband was not at home. You see, Peter had heard that Mr. Rabbit had told some of the forest-people that Peter had broken his saw, so he wouldn't have to saw wood to pay for the food that Mrs. Rabbit gave him.
When Mrs. Rabbit saw who it was that knocked, she came very near shutting the door in Peter's face. But she couldn't help noticing again how thin Peter was. And when he asked again for something to[p. 20] eat she hadn't the heart to refuse him.
"You're not ill, are you?" she asked.
"Well—yes, I am!" said Peter Mink, boldly. He would actually rather tell a lie than work. And he thought that if he said he was ill, Mrs. Rabbit wouldn't expect him to do any work to pay for what she might give him.
"You look to me as if you needed some cambric tea," Mrs. Rabbit said.