arms about
Jeanette.

"Something must be done about it!" said the French doll as she stamped
her little foot.

"If I catch the culprit, I will--well, I don't know what I will do with
him!" said the tin soldier, who could be very fierce at times, although
he was seldom cross.

"Here is the hole he came from!" cried Uncle Clem from the other end of
the nursery. "Come, see!"

All the dolls ran to where Uncle Clem was, down on his hands and knees.

"This must be the place!" said Raggedy Ann. "We will plug up the hole
with something, so he will not come out again!"

The dolls hunted around and brought rags and pieces of paper and pushed
them into the mouse's doorway.

"I thought I heard nibbling last night," one of the penny dolls said.
"You know I begged for an extra piece of pie last evening, when Mistress
had me at the table and it kept me awake!"

While the dolls were talking, Marcella ran down-stairs with Jeanette and
told Daddy and Mamma, who came up-stairs with Marcella and hunted around
until they discovered the mouse's doorway.

"Oh, why couldn't it have chewed on me?" Raggedy Ann asked herself when
she saw Marcella's sorrowful face, for Raggedy Ann was never selfish.

"Daddy will take Jeanette down-town with him and have her fixed up as
good as new," said Mamma, so Jeanette was wrapped in soft tissue paper
and taken away.

Later in the day Marcella came bouncing into the nursery with a surprise
for the dolls. It was a dear fuzzy little kitten.

Marcella introduced the kitten to all the dolls.

"Her name is Boots, because she has four little white feet!" said
Marcella. So Boots, the happy little creature, played with the penny
dolls, scraping them over the floor and peeping out from behind chairs
and pouncing upon them as if they were mice and the penny dolls enjoyed
it hugely.

When Marcella was not in the nursery, Raggedy Ann wrestled with Boots
and they would roll over and over upon the floor, Boots with her front
feet around Raggedy Ann's neck and kicking with her hind feet.

[Illustration]

Then Boots would arch her back and pretend she was very angry and walk
sideways until she was close to Raggedy. Then she would jump at her and
over and over they would roll, their heads hitting the floor
bumpity-bump.

Boots slept in the nursery that night and was lonely for her Mamma, for
it was the first time she had been away from home.

Even though her bed was right on top of Raggedy Ann, she coul