"What happened to you while I was away?" asked the Monkey.
"Oh, many things," answered the Candy Rabbit. "Once Madeline left me alone, and the cat came in and began to lick the sugar off my pink nose. Another time a little mouse came out of a hole in the closet where I am kept at night, and nibbled a few crumbs of sweetness off the end of my stubby tail."
"Gracious!" cried the Monkey. "Weren't you scared?"
"A little," answered the Rabbit. "But I jumped to one side, and when Madeline opened the closet door the mouse ran away."
All the while the Monkey and Candy Rabbit were talking, Herbert, Dick and Arnold, with Madeline, Dorothy and Mirabell to help, were putting up the sheet tent in Herbert's yard. The clothesline was pulled tight between two posts and the sheets put over the line. The edges were fastened to the ground with wooden rings, and then some pieces of cloth were pinned to the back of the sheet to close that end. It took two or three days to make the tent, but at last it was finished.
"We'll leave one end open for the front door," said Herbert.
"But if we do that everybody can look in and see our show for nothing," objected Dick. "That isn't right. They ought to give one pin, or two pins, to come to see our show."
"We can pin some pieces of cloth at the front end of the tent," suggested Mirabell. "I have an old shawl over at my house that Mother lets me spread on the grass when I play with my Lamb on Wheels. I'll get that to close the front of the tent."
The old shawl was just what was needed to make a front "door" for the show tent, and soon it was pinned in place. Some old boxes were found by Patrick, the kind gardener, and these were to be used for seats.
"Now we'd better all go and get our things that are going to be in the show," said Herbert. "I'll bring out my Monkey."