"Won't we get sick?" asked the boy, who was busily eating a delicious peach--rose candy outside and a soft, delicate cream within. "I suppose so," answered Dot, truthfully, "but there's nothing else to eat, you see." "Don't want nuthin' else," said Tot. "Allegretti," called the woman to one of the brown maids, "bring a dish of those new cocoanut-kisses for our guests. Won't you have a few more maple caramels?" she asked, politely, turning to Dot. "No, thank you," replied the child; "I've eaten so much already that I fear I shall be ill." "Oh, nonsense!" returned the little man; "you cannot become ill eating this sort of candy, for it's the purest in all the world. But if you lived here always you would doubtless become as fat as we are, and probably you would lose all your teeth." "We're not going to stay," answered Dot, in alarm. "We shall have to start in just a few minutes." "But not until you have taken a short walk around our Valley," remonstrated the little man. "You may never come here again, you know, and it is a very sweet sight." They agreed to join their kind host in a walk, and after the candy man had carefully dusted himself afresh with powdered sugar, they started out. As they walked up the street, they noticed that many people came to the doors of the candy houses and looked at the strangers with great curiosity. These people seemed made of many different kinds of candy, but all were quite fat, and had their clothes painted upon them in bright colors, like the candy images that are sold in shops at Christmas time. "Aren't the people here very brittle?" asked Dot, as they walked along. "Yes, I may admit they are somewhat brittle," answered the man. "That is one of the drawbacks we suffer from being made of candy. Only two days ago, Mr. Gunther, a particular friend of mine, fell down a hill and was broken into seventeen different pieces." "Dear me!" exclaimed Dot. "What did you do with him?" "Oh, as he was ruined beyond repair, we divided him up among the neighbors who loved him best, and ate him the next morning for breakfast." "Ate him!" cried the girl, who was greatly shocked. "Certainly; Mr. Gunther was a very sweet man." "But this is horrible," said Dot, with a shudder. "You are all cannibals!" "Cannibals! What are those?" inquired the candy man. "Why, people who eat each other," said Dot. "Oh, then we are cannibals, sure enough," declared the little man, calmly. "But cannibals are wicked creatures," said the child, aghast at such savagery. "Is it wicked to eat candy in the country where you live?" demanded the man. "No; but then people are not made of candy there." "Well, here there is nothing else than candy; so if we eat at all we must eat candy. Is it wicked to eat in the country you came from?" "No," replied Dot, who was beginning to be puzzled at all this.