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UNIVERSITY OF PlICHIGPN-DEflRBORK

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THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
light burning on the mantelpiece. And when
the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would
snuggle down close under his little warm chin
and dream, with the Boy's hands clasped close
round him all night long.
And so time went on, and the little Rabbit
was very happy—so happy that he never
noticed how his beautiful velveteen fur was
getting shabbier and shabbier, and his tail
coming unsewn, and all the pink rubbed off his
nose where the Boy had kissed him.
Spring came, and they had long days in the
garden, for wherever the Boy went the Rabbit
went too. He had rides in the wheelbarrow,
and picnics on the grass, and lovely fairy huts
built for him under the raspberry canes behind
the flower border. And once, when the Boy
was called away suddenly to go out to tea, the
Rabbit was left out on the lawn until long
after dusk, and Nana had to come and look for
him with the candle because the Boy couldn't
go to sleep unless he was there. He was wet
through with the dew and quite earthy from
diving into the burrows the Boy had made for
him in the flower bed, and Nana grumbled as
22


THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
where the two strangers had passed. The
Velveteen Rabbit was all alone.
"Oh, dear!" he thought. "Why did they
run away like that? Why couldn't they stop
and talk to me?"
For a long time he lay very still, watching
the bracken, and hoping that they would come
back. But they never returned, and presently
the sun sank lower and the little white moths
fluttered out, and the Boy came and carried
him home.
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