ady, and when
the rabbit gentleman had let her in she looked so sad and sorrowful
that he said:

"What is the matter, Mrs. Purr? Has anything happened?"

"Indeed there has, Mr. Longears," the cat lady answered. "You know
my three little kittens, don't you?"

"Why, yes, I know them," replied the bunny uncle. "They are Fuzzo,
Muzzo and Wuzzo. I hope they are not ill?"

"No, they are not ill," said the cat lady, mewing sadly, "but they
have run away, and I came to see if you would help me get them
back."

"Run away! Your dear little kittens!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "You
don't mean it! How did it happen?"

"Well, you know my little kittens had each a new pair of mittens,"
said Mrs. Purr.

"Yes, I read about that in the Mother Goose book," said the rabbit
gentleman. "It must be nice to have new mittens."

"My little kittens thought so," went on Mrs. Purr. "Their
grandmother, Pussy Cat Mole, knitted them."

"I have met Pussy Cat Mole," said Uncle Wiggily. "After she jumped
over a coal, and in her best petticoat burned a great hole, I helped
her mend it so she could go to the party."

"I heard about that; it was very good of you," mewed Mrs. Purr. "But
about my little kittens, when they got their mittens, what do you
think they did?"

"Why, I suppose they went out and played in the snow," Uncle Wiggily
said. "I know that is what I would have done, when I was a little
rabbit, if I had had a new pair of mittens."

"I only wish they had done that," Mrs. Purr said. "But, instead,
they went and ate some cherry pie. The red pie-juice got all over
their new mittens, and when they saw it they became afraid I would
scold them, and they ran away. I was not home when they ate the pie
and soiled their mittens, but the cat lady who lives next door told
me.

"Now I want to know if you will try to find my three little kittens
for me; Fuzzo, Wuzzo and Muzzo? I want them to come home so badly!"

"I'll go look for them," promised the old rabbit gentleman. So
taking his red, white and blue rheumatism crutch, off he started
over the fields and through the woods. Mrs. Purr went back home to
get supper, in case her kittens, with their pie-soiled mittens,
should come back by themselves before Uncle Wiggily found them.

On and on went the old rabbit gentleman. He looked on all sides and
through the middle for any signs of the lost kittens, but he saw
none for quite a while. Then, all at once, he heard a mewing sound
over in the bu