t person in the
blanket...."

He opened the door....

Tommy Brock was sitting at Mr. Tod's kitchen table, pouring out tea from
Mr. Tod's tea-pot into Mr. Tod's tea-cup. He was quite dry himself and
grinning; and he threw the cup of scalding tea all over Mr. Tod.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Then Mr. Tod rushed upon Tommy Brock, and Tommy Brock grappled with Mr.
Tod amongst the broken crockery, and there was a terrific battle all
over the kitchen. To the rabbits underneath it sounded as if the floor
would give way at each crash of falling furniture.

They crept out of their tunnel, and hung about amongst the rocks and
bushes, listening anxiously.

[Illustration]

Inside the house the racket was fearful. The rabbit babies in the oven
woke up trembling; perhaps it was fortunate they were shut up inside.

Everything was upset except the kitchen table.

And everything was broken, except the mantelpiece and the kitchen
fender. The crockery was smashed to atoms.

The chairs were broken, and the window, and the clock fell with a crash,
and there were handfuls of Mr. Tod's sandy whiskers.

The vases fell off the mantelpiece, the canisters fell off the shelf;
the kettle fell off the hob. Tommy Brock put his foot in a jar of
raspberry jam.

And the boiling water out of the kettle fell upon the tail of Mr. Tod.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

When the kettle fell, Tommy Brock, who was still grinning, happened to
be uppermost; and he rolled Mr. Tod over and over like a log, out at the
door.

Then the snarling and worrying went on outside; and they rolled over the
bank, and down hill, bumping over the rocks. There will never be any
love lost between Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod.

[Illustration]

As soon as the coast was clear, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny came out
of the bushes--

"Now for it! Run in, Cousin Benjamin! Run in and get them! while I watch
at the door."

But Benjamin was frightened--

"Oh; oh! they are coming back!"

"No they are not."

"Yes they are!"

"What dreadful bad language! I think they have fallen down the stone
quarry."

Still Benjamin hesitated, and Peter kept pushing him--

"Be quick, it's all right. Shut the oven door, Cousin Benjamin, so that
he won't miss them."

Decidedly there were lively doings in Mr. Tod's kitchen!

[Illustration]

At home in the rabbit hole, things had not been quite comfortable.

After quarrelling at supper, Flopsy and old Mr. Bouncer h