"Then there IS news over here!" cried Jimmy triumphantly. "What is it,
Peter?"
But Peter shook his head as if he hadn't the slightest idea and couldn't
imagine. Jimmy coaxed and teased, but all in vain. Finally he started
for home no wiser than before.
"Just the same, I believe that Jenny Wren told the truth and that there
is news over in the Old Briar-patch," he muttered to himself. "Something
has happened over there, and Peter won't tell. I wonder what it can be."
CHAPTER XXX
REDDY FOX LEARNS THE SECRET
Nothing that you ever do,
Nothing good or nothing bad,
But has effect on other folks--
Gives them pain or makes them glad.
Peter Rabbit.
Of course Jenny Wren didn't mean to tell the secret of the Old Briar-
patch, because she had promised Peter Rabbit that she wouldn't. But she
didn't see any harm in telling every one she met that there was a secret
there, at least that there was great news there, and so, because Jenny
Wren is a great gossip, it wasn't long before all the little people on
the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest and around the Smiling Pool
had heard it and were wondering what the news could be.
After Jimmy Skunk's visit came a whole string of visitors to the Old
Briar-patch. One would hardly have left before another would appear.
Each one tried to act as if he had just happened around that way and
didn't want to pass Peter's home without making a call, but each one
asked so many questions that Peter knew what had really brought him
there was the desire to find out what the news in the Old Briar-patch
could be.
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