ear anythin', anyway. We
ain't spoke a word all the way home. Where's Loretty? She came over to
stay with you, didn't she?"

Ann Mary explained that Loretta was not at home.

"That's queer, seems to me, Thanksgivin' Day," said her grandmother.
"Massy sakes, what cat's that? She came out of the settin'-room!"

Ann Mary explained about Loretta's cat. Then she burst forth with the
question that had been uppermost in her mind ever since her grandmother
came in. "Grandma," said she, "what did you do with the turkey and the
plum-pudding?"

"What?"

"What did you do with the turkey and the plum-pudding?"

"The turkey an' the plum-puddin'?"

"Yes; I couldn't find 'em anywhere."

Mrs. Little, who had removed her wraps, and was crouching over the
kitchen stove with her feet in the oven, looked at Ann Mary with a dazed
expression.

"I dunno what you mean, child," said she.

Mr. Little had helped the man with the sleigh to start, and had now come
in. He was pulling off his boots.

"Don't you remember, mother," said he, "how you run back in the house,
an' said you was goin' to set that turkey an' plum-pudding away, for you
was afraid to leave 'em settin' right out in plain sight on the table,
for fear that somebody might come in?"

"Yes; I do remember," said Mrs. Little. "I thought they looked 'most too
temptin'. I set 'em in the pantry. I thought Ann Mary could get 'em when
she came in."

"They ain't in the pantry," said Ann Mary.

Her grandmother arose and went into the pantry with a masterful air.
"Ain't in the pantry?" she repeated. "I don't s'pose you more'n gave one
look."

Ann Mary followed her grandmother. She fairly expected to see the turkey
and pudding before her eyes on the shelf and to admit that she had been
mistaken. Mr. Little also followed, and they all stood in the pantry and
looked about.

"I guess they ain't here, mother," said Mr. Little. "Can't you think
where you set 'em?"

The old woman took up the lamp and stepped out of the pantry with
dignity. "I've set 'em somewhere," said she, in a curt voice, "an' I'll
find 'em in the mornin'. You don't want any turkey or plum-puddin'
to-night, neither of you!"

But Mrs. Little did not find the turkey and the plum-pudding in the
morning. Some days went by, and their whereabouts was as much a mystery
as ever. Mrs. Little could not remember where she had put them; but it
had been in some secure hiding-place, since her own wit which had placed
the