Part 11 (1/2)

”Oh, I hope nothing happens this time,” whispered the Cat. ”I should like to live with that nice little girl.”

”We have come for the China Cat, Mr. Mugg,” said Aunt Clara, as the toy man came forward to wait on his customers. ”We called right after the fire, but everything was so upset we did not come in.”

”Oh, wasn't that fire dreadful!” sighed Mr. Mugg, raising his hands. ”I thought my whole place would burn! But the firemen carried out a lot of the toys, and though this white China Cat was stolen, I have her back.

So you want her, do you, little girl?” he asked.

”Oh, I want her very much!” said Jennie Moore, and the China Cat was placed in her hands.

”Now for some new adventures,” thought the toy, as she felt the nice little girl softly rubbing her white head.

CHAPTER IX

AN OLD FRIEND

Jennie Moore's aunt paid Mr. Mugg for the white China Cat, and the little girl carried the toy out of the store, not even waiting to have wrapping paper put around her.

”She is afraid the China Cat may be caught in another fire, or that something will happen,” laughed the aunt, as she followed her niece.

”Oh, I hope there will never be another fire!” exclaimed Mr. Mugg, as he bowed his customers out of the door. ”I can't imagine what started this one. But I am glad the China Cat is safe, though she did get very dirty.”

”She is clean now,” said Jennie, turning her China Cat over and over, and not finding a speck of dirt on her.

”What are you going to call your China Cat, Jennie?” asked Aunt Clara, when they had almost reached the home of the nice little girl.

”I will call her s...o...b..ll,” was the answer. ”She is white, just like a s...o...b..ll.”

”And from what Mr. Mugg said, I imagine she was as black as coal after the fire,” laughed Aunt Clara. ”Well, I am glad s...o...b..ll is clean and white now, and that you at last have her. Take good care of her and don't drop your cat, for I think she will break easily.”

”I'll be careful,” promised Jennie.

”Oh, how different this is from the time when that terrible black boy, Jeff, had me,” thought the China Cat, as she was taken into Jennie's home. There the rooms were bright, cheerful and sunny, with soft carpets on the floor and beautiful ornaments all about.

”Now we'll have some fun, s...o...b..ll,” said Jennie to the China Cat, as she set her toy down on a table, while she took off her hat and coat, for it was winter and the weather was cold, even though it did rain at times, instead of snow.

”You will not have to be afraid of a flood here, s...o...b..ll,” went on Jennie, ”for we are far from the river.”

”Thank goodness for that,” thought the China Cat, who heard all that was said, though she could not move when Jennie, or any one else, was looking at her.

Jennie played with the China Cat all the rest of that day. Once the nice little girl dressed the China Cat up in doll's clothes and pretended she was a doll.

”Though I cannot say I liked that,” said the China Cat, telling her adventures afterward to her friend, the Talking Doll. ”The clothes sort of tickled me. But Jennie was so kind and good I did not want to make a fuss.”

When evening came Jennie put her China Cat away in a closet in her room, where there were many other toys. At first it was so dark that the China Cat could see nothing, but, after a while, she saw where some light came in through the keyhole, and then s...o...b..ll could look about her. The light that came through the hole was not daylight, for it was now night, and Jennie was going to bed. It was the light from a little lamp that burned all night just outside Jennie's room, and the China Cat was glad of that, for by the gleam she was able to see her way around the closet.

”Thank goodness now I can move and stretch myself a bit,” said the China Cat, speaking out loud, in toy language. ”I haven't had a chance to do as I pleased since just before the fire.”

”What's that about a fire?” suddenly asked a voice just behind the China Cat. She looked around the shelf on which she sat but could see no one, though a Wooden Doll, with funny, staring eyes, was looking straight at her.