She just kept hold of the gay red and yellow fellow after her brother
had handed him to her, and took him with her to the kitchen, where she
knew her mother was.

"Oh, Mother! may Cook bake us a cake for the Toy Party?" cried
Madeline, and, not thinking what she was doing, she laid the Calico
Clown down in a large basket of oranges which the fruit man had just
set on the kitchen table.

"A cake for a Toy Party?" repeated Mother. "Yes, I think so. Tell me
more about it."

So Madeline told about the Toy Party that was going to be held, and
how the Sawdust Doll, the White Rocking Horse, and all the other jolly
creatures were to come.

"Course they won't EAT the cake--only make believe," explained
Madeline. "We'll eat the cake--we children."

"Yes, I supposed you would," said Mother, with a laugh as she looked
at Cook.

"And, please, may I help?" asked Madeline.

"Yes," promised Cook, and then, not thinking what she was doing and
not seeing the Calico Clown, who had slipped away down in among the
oranges, she took the basket of fruit from the table.

"I'll just set the oranges in the ice box," she said. "They need to be
well chilled for the orangeade, and it's a hot day."