Mr. and Mrs. Bunnikins-Bunny had invited their great friends Mr. and Mrs. Gray-Squirrel and their two children, Ruddy and Chippy, to spend the summer with them; and one beautiful morning they started off, bright and early, for the mountains.
They had a cart, drawn by Neddy, a nice fat donkey, which the Gray-Squirrels and the Bunnikins family had loaded with all sorts of things which they would need, and many others which they would never want, but which Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny had insisted on stuffing in. At the last moment, he brought out a large feather-bed, which he felt sure he would need if he had rheumatism, and a foot-bath for Rosamund, in case she had the croup or whooping-cough.
Mrs. Bunnikins, however, refused, quite sternly, to put another single thing in the cart, which was already top-heavy, and might tip over, or else break down.
Besides, Neddy was very particular, and might lie down on the way, if he thought the load too big.
Since his marriage Mr. Bunnikins had become, not only more particular than ever about his beautiful clothes, but also very fussy about himself, and was constantly imagining that he had some new complaint.
He had brought a fine silk hammock to sleep in, when the nights were warm, and a soft woolly sleeping-bag, if it were cold. As for socks, hats, and fancy waistcoats, he would have brought dozens, had not Mrs. Bunnikins limited him to half a dozen of each.
