uble her usual speed, and I
thought she would immediately explain my appearance; but she seemed even
more surprised than her husband; she fairly screamed.

"Well to be sure!" exclaimed she as usual, as soon as she had recovered
her breath; "well to be sure! Did any body ever see such a thing? How
can he have come? Do you think master is on the road?"

"I'll run down to the turnpike and see," answered her husband; and off
he set, without bestowing a word upon me; his wife meanwhile, with her
apron thrown over her head, straining her eyes to look after him. I
wagged my tail, and patted her with my paw, and did my best to make her
understand that I was there on my own account; but her head was too full
of fancies to attend to the reality, and she persisted in looking out
for my master who was not coming, and neglecting me who was there under
her eyes. So I left her to find out the state of the case as she could,
and turned my steps towards the house, where I hoped to meet a friend,
who would think nothing so natural as my being at her side.

I peeped in at the kitchen window, and there sat my Pussy, in her old
place before the fire, looking just as when I left her--the neatest,
whitest, softest, and gentlest of creatures. _She_ was not surprised to
see me. She winked and blinked a little, as if she was dreaming of me at
that moment, and was afraid to open her eyes more than half-way, lest
the dream should vanish; but at last she opened them altogether, and the
dream turned to reality. Then, had we not a happy meeting!

There was much to tell on both sides before we could properly discuss
the grand object of my coming, and our time was a good deal taken up by
a constant succession of visitors; not dogs or cats, as might have been
expected, but boys and girls, men and women, friends of the servants,
all pouring in to see _me_. From the time that the gardener and his wife
had satisfied themselves that my master was not coming with me, they
seemed to consider my arrival stranger than ever, and to think it
necessary to inform every body of the circumstances,--though I should
certainly have supposed there would be more wonder in seeing two persons
than one. Pussy did not approve of so much company, as she always
disliked to be stared at; I, being of a less retiring turn of mind, was
perhaps rather flattered by the notice; but, by the time evening came,
even I was glad to have the house quiet. Then we lay by the fire, and
expl