o under my sunshade,"
Grandfather Mole said. "But you can stand just outside it. And perhaps
the sight of me in the shade may help you to feel cooler, even if you
are in the sun."

Well, Mr. Meadow Mouse smiled a bit, all to himself. He knew that
Grandfather Mole was odd. And being a good-natured person and wishing to
please Grandfather Mole, Mr. Meadow Mouse joined him.

"What do you think of it now?" Grandfather Mole demanded of Mr. Meadow
Mouse, almost as soon as he had stepped just outside the shade of the
toadstool. "Don't you feel cooler already? I shouldn't care to stay in
the garden a second without this sunshade."

Mr. Meadow Mouse wanted to be polite. So he replied that perhaps he did
feel a bit more comfortable.

"You ought to own one of these," said Grandfather Mole.

"I've heard they're not always easy to find," Mr. Meadow Mouse remarked.

"That's true," Grandfather agreed.

"You don't--ahem!--you don't use this one all the time, do you?" Mr.
Meadow Mouse inquired.

"No!" Grandfather Mole answered. "Not when it rains!"

"Then," said Mr. Meadow Mouse, "maybe you'll let me borrow your umbrella
(or sunshade, as you call it) some rainy day."

"Certainly! You shall take it the next time it rains!" Grandfather
promised.

As Mr. Meadow Mouse murmured, "Thank you!" he looked up at the sky with
a knowing eye. He could see signs there. But of course Grandfather Mole
had never seen the sky in all his life.

"The very next time it rains!" Mr. Meadow Mouse repeated, as if he
wanted to be sure there was no misunderstanding about it.

"Certainly! Certainly!" Grandfather Mole said. "And as I've remarked
before, I'd be glad to let you come under the sunshade now, beside me,
if there was only room enough for both of us."

"You needn't trouble yourself," Mr. Meadow Mouse told him. And once more
he scanned the sky eagerly.

"What's that?" Grandfather Mole cried suddenly, as he started up in
alarm. "What struck the top of my sunshade?"

"I don't know," said Mr. Meadow Mouse. "I don't know what it was, unless
it was a rain-drop."

XV

TWO AND A TOADSTOOL

GRANDFATHER MOLE had promised Mr. Meadow Mouse that he would loan him
his toadstool sunshade--or umbrella--the very next time it rained. But
when he agreed to that, Grandfather hadn't the slightest idea there was
a shower coming. Mr. Meadow Mouse, however, had watched the dark clouds
gathering in the sky. But he had said nothing of what he saw.