hat if they found him some one might take him away, and he
knew that the Boy needed him.

It was a long weary time, for the Boy was too ill to play, and the
little Rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long.
But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time when
the Boy should be well again, and they would go out in the garden
amongst the flowers and the butterflies and play splendid games in the
raspberry thicket like they used to. All sorts of delightful things he
planned, and while the Boy lay half asleep he crept up close to the
pillow and whispered them in his ear. And presently the fever turned,
and the Boy got better. He was able to sit up in bed and look at
picture-books, while the little Rabbit cuddled close at his side. And
one day, they let him get up and dress.

It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open. They
had carried the Boy out on to the balcony, wrapped in a shawl, and the
little Rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking.

The Boy was going to the seaside to-morrow. Everything was arranged,
and now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders. They talked
about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, with
just his head peeping out, and listened. The room was to be
disinfected, and all the books and toys that the Boy had played with
in bed must be burnt.

"Hurrah!" thought the little Rabbit. "To-morrow we shall go to the
seaside!" For the boy had often talked of the seaside, and he wanted
very much to see the big waves coming in, and the tiny crabs, and the
sand castles.

Just then Nana caught sight of him.

"How about his old Bunny?" she asked.

"That?" said the doctor. "Why, it's a mass of scarlet fever
germs!-Burn it at once. What? Nonsense! Get him a new one. He mustn't
have that any more!"

Anxious Times

And so the little Rabbit was put into a sack with the old
picture-books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of the
garden behind the fowl-house. That was a fine place to make a bonfire,
only the gardener was too busy just then to attend to it. He had the
potatoes to dig and the green peas to gather, but next morning he
promised to come quite early and burn the whole lot.

That night the Boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a new
bunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny, all white plush with
real glass eyes, but the Boy was too excited to care v