"Oh, dear!" thought the sugary chap. "Now I'll be all stuck up!"
But he was not, I am glad to say. The pins were fastened on papers, which were then folded together, so that the points did not stick out, and the candy fellow was not even scratched.
Up and down the street went Joe the peddler, trying to sell his notions. Finally he came to the very house where Madeline lived, and where Rosa had taken the Candy Rabbit from the veranda the day before.
"Maybe I shall sell something here," thought Joe. He went up the steps and rang the bell. As it happened, Madeline's mother was in the hall and she opened the door. Madeline was also in the hall, just getting ready to go to see some little friends.
"Any pins? Any needles? Any notions to-day?" asked Joe, as he held his basket out for Madeline's mother to see. And this time, and for the first time that morning, Joe pulled back the oilcloth cover from the other side. That was the reason he had not yet seen the Rabbit.
But now, as the oilcloth was rolled back, the sweet chap, lying on his side among the papers of pins, was shown. Madeline's mother was just going to say she did not care for any needles or sticking-plaster when the little girl, looking into the basket, spied the Bunny.
"Oh, look!" cried Madeline! "There he is—my Candy Rabbit! How did he get in the basket? Oh, Mother, my Candy Rabbit has come home to me!"
Madeline's mother was just as astonished as was the little girl; and Peddler Joe was surprised also.
"How did my little girl's Candy Rabbit get in your basket?" asked Madeline's mother.