"Is that Topsy crying?" said Alice's mamma, one morning. "Listen a
moment."
Alice stopped playing with her doll and kept very quiet. Yes, she
could hear a faint meow. She ran to the outside door and opened it,
but kitty was not there. She listened again, and again she heard the
same sound: "Meow! meow! meow!"
"Perhaps kitty is at the other door," said Alice's mamma.
Alice turned the knob and pulled the door wide open; but only a rush of
cold air and a few snowflakes came in.
"Where can she be, mamma? Oh, I know now! She is down cellar," said
Alice. But no kitty was there. "Maybe she is in the wood shed. I'll
run and see! No, mamma, she isn't there, either. I don't think she is
happy, wherever she is. She doesn't sound so. Just hear her cry!"
Both listened again to the half-smothered meow.
"No, she doesn't sound very happy, pet," said mamma. "She is shut up
somewhere and can't get out. We must find her."
So the mother and the little girl began to search for Topsy. Upstairs
and downstairs they went, looking everywhere. They opened all the
closet doors, they looked into all the trunks and boxes. They even
peeped into the baby's hamper and lifted the lid of grandmother's big
workbasket; but no kitty did they find. Still they could hear her
crying "Meow! meow! meow!" all the time.
Back to the kitchen they went. "She must be in this room," said mamma;
"the meowing sounds louder here than it does anywhere else."
Round and round the room went Alice, peeping everywhere. Her mother
looked in all the places, too. No kitty in the cupboard, no kitty in
the china closet, no kitty in the washtubs, no kitty in the wood box!
At last Alice stood still, quite close to the big stove, wondering
where she could look next.
"Meow! meow! meow!"
"Oh, mamma. It sounds loudest right here!"
Alice's mother bent her head and listened. "So it does," she said.
Then she put her hand on the door of the big warming oven. She pulled
it open, and--out walked Topsy, very warm indeed, but not hurt at all.
Alice caught kitty up in her arms and gave her a good hug. The poor
cat's fur was quite hot.
"It's a good thing for pussy that we found her as soon as we did," said
mamma.
Alice gave Topsy a saucer of milk, and soon her pet was curled up in
the doll's cradle fast asleep and none the worse for her warming.