"Yes, it would be very funny," agreed the little girl. "But maybe my
Rabbit helped him, or this Match-Safe Cat. Maybe they moved the
Clown!"

"How could they?" Sidney wanted to know.

"They couldn't, unless they came to life," went on Madeline in a
whisper. "And sometimes," she went on, looking around to make sure no
one else heard her, "sometimes I think that our toys CAN do things by
themselves when we can't see them."

"Oh, ho! Course they can't do anything!" laughed Sidney.

But if he could have seen the Calico Clown dancing on the closet
shelf, and if he could have heard the Cat and the Candy Rabbit
laughing until one's head nearly came off and the other had pains in
his ears, then Sidney would have thought differently, wouldn't he?

"Well, anyhow, I'm going to take my Calico Clown out and see how he
jumps around this morning," said Sidney, after a while.

Sidney found that the Calico Clown was almost as good an acrobat, or
jumper, as ever. When punched in the chest, the Clown would bang his
cymbals together. And when the strings were pulled, out shot the arms
and legs like those of a Jumping Jack, only in different fashion.

The red and yellow trousers of the Clown had not been soiled by his
giant's swing accident, and Sidney had been careful not to get any
spots of glue on his toy when he mended him.