"Now, Herbert and Madeline, you must not ask too many questions," said their mother, with a laugh. "This isn't exactly Christmas, you know, but it will soon be Easter, and——"
"Oh, I know what it is!" cried the little girl, whose name was Madeline. "It's the eggs and baskets we have to hunt for on Easter morning, Herbert! Oh, what fun!"
"Hurray!" cried Herbert. "I wish it were Easter now."
"It soon will be," said his mother, and then she put away the Candy Rabbit where the children could not find him. And the place where she put him was in a closet in her room. She took the curled wood and the paper wrappings from the Rabbit, and set him on a shelf.
At first it was so dark in the closet that the Candy Rabbit could see nothing. But he knew he would soon get used to this. Then, as his eyes began to see better and better in the dark, as all rabbits can, he smelled something he liked very much.
"It's just like the perfume counter in the store," said the Rabbit, speaking out loud, which he could do now, as there were no human eyes to see him. "It's just like perfume!"
"It is perfume!" a voice suddenly said, and the Candy Rabbit was very much surprised.
"Who are you?" he asked.
And then he saw, standing on the shelf near him, what seemed to be a little doll made of glass. On her head was a funny little cap, ending in a point, like the cap a dunce wears in school in the story books, and as the Candy Rabbit hopped nearer this Glass Doll the sweet smell of perfume became stronger.