“O, not much,” replied Fred. “They aren’t good for anything but to eat.”
“To eat!” exclaimed Charlie, “I would not sell Billy and Bunny for people to eat, not for all the money in the world.”
“And I don’t want to,” said Fred, “but that’s the only thing we can do.”
“Well,” replied Charlie, as he drew a long breath, “then we will, though I wish we could think of something else.”
The next morning they went out bright and early to get their rabbits, resolved to make the sacrifice, but one was missing. They searched all about the yard, and peeped into every crack and corner, but it was nowhere to be found. Charlie cried, and Fred scolded.
“There,” said he, “the Grimsby boys have stolen him, and I’ll call them thieves every time I see them. If it wasn’t for Hesper, I would tumble them both into the duck pond. I’ll call them thieves though, anyhow.”
“No, no,” said Hesper, who stood close behind them. She had heard the crying and came out to see what it meant. “If you begin with hard names, you will soon come to blows. Leave it to me, and see if I can’t get your rabbit again, without any trouble. Perhaps the Grimsby boys know nothing about it, and then you would have no reason whatever for calling them thieves.”
Fred was just beginning to argue the case, when Hesper said, “Now don’t,” in such a pleasant, persuasive way, that he gave it up and went off, but it was a great disappointment.