left the room.

"I wonder," said Tommy, in an awestruck, thoughtful voice, "what Hal
will do with a _whole_ shilling? Will he spend it all at once, do you
think?"

[Illustration: Chapter I tailpiece]

[Illustration: Chapter II headpiece]

CHAPTER II.

A FRIEND IN NEED.

Though Hal's crossness at breakfast had made Drusie feel rather sad, it
was impossible for her to unhappy for long on such a beautiful morning;
and when Helen suggested that they should take a few of the rabbits
with them to the clover field she cheerfully agreed.

"Punch and Judy and Toby went with us last time," she said, "and they
didn't behave very well, so we won't take them with us to-day. Let's
take Jumbo."

Jumbo was the oldest of all the rabbits, and he belonged to Hal, which
was perhaps the reason that Drusie wished to take him. She thought it
would please Hal.

Partly because Jumbo was so old, and partly because he was also very
bad tempered, he lived by himself in a comfortable, roomy hutch, with a
soft bed of hay at one end and a great wide space at the other, in
which he took his meals and looked out of the door at the other
rabbits. Helen, who did not care very much for Jumbo, declared that he
did that on purpose to aggravate them, for they all finished their food
long before he was half-way through his, and then they had nothing else
to do but to sit and watch him. And that made them feel hungry again.
He was sitting before his door now munching bran and oats, and at the
mention of his name he pricked up his long ears and sleepily blinked
his eyes. "H'm," said Helen, looking at him rather distrustfully;
"Jumbo too can be dreadfully naughty when he likes, and he rather looks
as if he meant it to-day."

But that, Drusie said laughing, was all nonsense, for no rabbit could
have looked meeker or better-behaved than Jumbo that morning. So it
was decided that he should accompany them; and as Punch and Judy and
Toby scratched at their doors when they saw him on the ground, Jim said
it would be unkind not to take them as well. And Drusie declined to
leave Salt and Pepper behind, for they were always good. Thus, when
the four children started for the clover field, it was a very big party
of rabbits that went with them. But as Jumbo followed a great deal
better than many dogs do, and as all the other rabbits followed Jumbo,
the children had no trouble at all with them.

The way to the clover field lay through th