pell before I could coax her to tell
what had happened, and when she did speak I found out how mean a
sneak Jimmy Hedgehog could be without trying very hard.

"It seems that poor Sonny was lying on the moss sunning himself, at
the very place where I fancied it was possible to smell blood, when
along came Jimmy. Of course, Sonny stayed where he was, never thinking
one of the Hedgehog family would do him any harm, and without saying a
word Jimmy lay down on the poor little fellow, rolling over on him as
many as six times. There's no need for me to say that my dear little
rabbit looked, when Jimmy got up, a good deal like one of Mrs. Man's
pin-cushions, for quills were sticking out all over him.

"'You can tell your father that that's what he gets for tattling about
me,' Jimmy said in a terribly ugly voice, 'and if he doesn't mind his
business from now on I'll come and fix your mother the same way!'

"Poor Sonny was so frightened and hurt that he couldn't say a word,
and there he lay, not daring to move because every time he wiggled the
least little bit the quills would stick into him worse than ever, till
his mother found him. She had just finished pulling out the quills
when I came in, and, of course, felt a good deal excited; wouldn't
even let me touch Sonny, but declared that until I'd left the club for
good and all I couldn't come where she or the children were.

"It wasn't the least little use for me to promise that I'd take my
name off the list of members next morning; she insisted that I do it
that very same minute, and, if you'll believe me, nearly drove me out
of my own home, threatening to pour hot water on me if I didn't notify
the president right away that I was through with joining clubs.

"When Mrs. Bunny gets really mad there isn't any sense in trying to
argue with her, for she won't listen, and, seeing that I was driven
out of the hole, there was nothing left but to do as she had said. You
can't think how bad I felt about being obliged to do it, for I knew
all the members would laugh at me, or say I didn't dare to stand up
for my rights; but there wasn't any other way out of the scrape, as I
figured it, so off I went, hopping mighty slow, and trying to think up
what I could say to make the other fellows believe I'd got tired of
going to the club meetings.

"I suppose because I was so mixed up in my mind I didn't look after
myself as I would have done at almost any other time, and all of a
sudden ther