THAT night when Hannah was ready to go to bed, the house-cat was
nowhere to be found. She didn’t like to go to bed and lock her out, for
she feared she might come home during the night and make a disturbance;
and, moreover, she didn’t fancy the thought of getting up after she had
gone to bed, to let her in.
Hannah went to the door and called, but there was no answer; and after
going about the garden, calling “Puss, puss,” her patience gave out
and she went back to the kitchen. “Stay out, then, if you want to; you
won’t catch me getting up to let you in, if you yawl all night,” she
said, as she shut and bolted the door.
The house-kittens might have given her some information on the subject,
if she could have understood their language,--for their mother had
told them, early in the evening, not to be alarmed if she were out all
night, as she had very important business to attend to; but Hannah only
thought they were mewing for their mother, when they tried to make her
understand. So Hannah went up to bed, where Nancy was already sound
asleep in her little cot-bed and happily unconscious of the deep plot
laid for her by the evil-minded old rat.
“You look innocent enough,” said Hannah, as her eyes fell on the
sleeping child, who was smiling in her sleep at some pleasant dream;
“but I don’t trust you,--appearances are too suspicious.”
Soon Hannah too was fast asleep, and the house silent.
Then, when everything was quiet, old Graywhisker, with Hannah’s
silver thimble in his mouth, came softly out of his hole and looked
cautiously around to see if the barn-cat were in sight. Not a sound was
to be heard, and he crept slyly along till he came to a hole in the
corner of the barn farthest from the barn-cat’s nest; for he didn’t
dare trust the private entrance any more, and had made this new exit
with the help of some of the younger rats.
When he found himself out of doors he looked anxiously about. Yes,
there was Mrs. Silverskin, just where she had agreed to be; and he went
towards her.
“Here is the thimble, and mind you don’t lose it!” he said, as he
dropped it noiselessly on the ground in front of the little mouse. “Be
sure you put it among Nancy’s things, where Hannah will be likely to
see it.”
“I will do my best,” said Mrs. Silverskin softly.
“You are quite sure you understand the way through the shed?” asked
Graywhisker.
“Quite sure,” answered the little mouse; “I don’t see how I could
possibly miss it.”
“Well, then, all is quiet now, and the sooner you are off the better.”
Mrs. Silverskin took up the thimble and started on her expedition, and
the old rat returned to his hole to await her return.
When the little mouse came to the shed-door, she stopped and looked
cautiously around. Not a sound was to be heard, and she crept through
a little hole under the door and entered the shed. Everything was very
still,--not even a mouse was stirring besides herself,--and she soon
came to the stairs that led to the loft above.
A ray of moonlight fell across the stairs, and little Mrs. Silverskin
stopped a minute to rest and laid the silver thimble down. It shone
very prettily in the moonlight, and she looked at it longingly.
“How my children would like it for a plaything!” she said to herself;
“it seems a shame they can’t have it. It is too bad to make them think
that poor child is a thief. She has a very good heart. I heard them
say she used to save crumbs for the mice when she didn’t have enough
to eat herself. Posy, too,--she is such a dear child, I hate to make
her so unhappy. I believe I will keep it for my babies, and make old
Graywhisker think I put it in Nancy’s room. But then if he should ever
find out the truth it would be the end of me; and he’d be sure to find
it out, for he knows everything. The barn-cat came near getting him the
other day,--I’m sure I wish she had. Dear me! what was that noise?”
Little Mrs. Silverskin trembled like a leaf; but all was still again,
and she concluded it was only something that fell down in the loft
above. So, when she was quite sure everything was quiet again, she
took up the thimble and went on very cautiously.
She reached the head of the stairs and found herself in the loft,
and over there in the corner was the hole just as her friend had
described it to her. “If I wasn’t sure the house-cat was locked up in
the kitchen, I should think she was somewhere about,” said little Mrs.
Silverskin to herself, “for I feel cold shivers down my spine just as
I always do when she or the barn-cat is about; but I’m only nervous, I
guess.”
So the little mouse went on her way, and had nearly reached the hole,
when suddenly from behind a barrel darted the house-cat, her large
yellow eyes glaring fiercely in the moonlight.
The poor little mouse gave a squeak of terror, and dropping the silver
thimble ran swiftly for her life, closely followed by the house-cat.
One pause or misstep and all would have been over with Mrs. Silverskin;
and thinking of her babies at home who were waiting for her, she ran
as she never ran before, dreading every moment to feel the house-cat’s
cruel claws; but she reached the hole under the shed-door in safety,
and had just time to whisk her tail in after her when the house-cat’s
claws were at the entrance.
How her little heart did beat when she reached the barn; and how much
faster still it beat when she remembered that she had left Hannah’s
silver thimble behind, and must give an account of herself to old
Graywhisker! Yes, there was the old rat peering out of his hole, and
she couldn’t pass without his seeing her. His sharp old eyes soon spied
her out, and he called to her to stop.
“Well,” he said, eying her sharply as she stood trembling before him,
“how did you get along? Come, don’t keep me waiting here all night!”
“I got along very well,” said the little mouse, “until I reached the
loft, and I was almost up to the hole in the corner when all at once
out sprang the house-cat and I had to run for dear life. I never had
such a narrow escape in my life.”
“And the thimble!” exclaimed the old rat in a fierce tone; “where is
the thimble?”
“I dropped it in my fright,” said the little mouse in a shaking voice.
“I couldn’t run with it in my mouth; the house-cat would surely have
caught me if I had.”
“What!” squeaked the old rat. “You lost the thimble, did you?” and he
sprang so suddenly at the poor little mouse that she gave a loud squeal
of terror,--so loud that the barn-cat awoke from one of her light
cat-naps and quickly started up. As she appeared, both Graywhisker and
Mrs. Silverskin ran.
“I believe I’m more afraid of Graywhisker than I am even of the
barn-cat,” said the little mouse to herself, as she reached her hole
above the mow in safety. “Dear me, what a fearful night this has been!
To be almost caught by the house-cat, pounced on by Graywhisker, and
then chased by the barn-cat! Graywhisker is certainly the worst of the
three! What _will_ he do to me for losing the thimble? I shan’t dare to
stir out of my house till the affair has blown over.”
The next morning the house-kittens were busily playing.
“What has got into those kittens? They act as if they were crazy,” said
Hannah, when she had nearly fallen over them for the fifth time before
breakfast. “Here, you run out of doors and play there,” she continued,
driving them out; “I don’t care to break my neck just yet!” So out the
kittens went, and the same performance was gone through with there.
“What can those kittens have to play with, do you suppose?” said
Nancy, as the children came in from the garden to breakfast; “they are
rolling something that shines;” and they ran up to examine it more
closely.
“It is Hannah’s silver thimble, I do believe!” exclaimed Tom, as he
picked up the shining plaything.
“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Nancy joyfully; “now she won’t think I stole
it.”
“I shall show it to her right off this very minute,” said Posy,
snatching the thimble out of Tom’s hand and running into the kitchen
with it in a very earnest manner.
“Hannah,” she said, holding up the thimble, “here is your silver
thimble,--the house-kittens had it to play with, and Nancy didn’t steal
it, there now!”
Hannah put the thimble in her pocket without a word; but this didn’t
satisfy Posy, who liked to see justice done, and always felt
distressed if people were not harmonious in their relations to each
other.
“_Now_ you know her isn’t a thief, don’t you, Hannah?” said Posy in her
most winning tones.
“I suppose she didn’t take the thimble,” replied Hannah; “but the
necklace and the cat’s collar haven’t turned up yet.”
“Hannah!” cried Posy indignantly, “I think you are a very mean girl,
and I shan’t ever come and help you cook any more!”
“Oh, do!” said Hannah, trying to look very serious; “however shall I
get along with my cooking if you don’t help me?”
“No,” replied Posy decidedly, “I shan’t ever help you make cookies or
anything else; see if I do!”
[Illustration: Mrs. Silverskin drops the thimble.--_Page 232._]