ad stirred up a bigger rumpus
than even his mischievous spirit desired, vainly sought to elude his
enemy's attacks.

"Why, Philip! Sir Philip!" cried Miss Eunice, stooping to grasp her
favorite's collar, and by his unlooked-for onrush against her own feet
losing her balance and falling to the floor.

"Punch! You bad, bad dog! There--you woman! Don't you dare--don't you
dare to strike him with that awful broom! If he needs punishing--I'll
punish him myself! Oh, what a horrid place, what horrid folks, what a
perfectly fiendish cat!" shrieked Kate, folding both arms tight about
the pug's fat, squirming body, and rushing out-of-doors with him. But by
this time his courage had returned, and, wriggling himself free, he
rushed back to the battle.

[Illustration: "HE NOW LAY STRETCHED UPON HIS OWNER'S LAP AS SHE STILL
SAT ON THE FLOOR"]

Alas! that exciting affair was all over. Sir Philip's unwonted anger had
proved too much for his strength, and, utterly exhausted, he now lay
stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on the floor, stroking
and caressing him most tenderly.

Katharine had followed Punch back to the kitchen, and was as startled as
he was proud at the sight before them. Cocking his square head on one
side, curling his tail, wrinkling his nose, and protruding his pink
tongue even more than usual, he regarded his fallen foe with such
comical satisfaction that Katharine's alarm gave place to amusement, and
she laughed aloud. But the laugh died as quickly as it had risen when
Aunt Eunice looked up and said, reproachfully:

"I fear it has killed him, poor fellow!"

"Oh, no, no! A little bit of a scrap like that kill a cat? I thought
they had nine lives, and such a trifle--Why, Punch is as fresh as a
daisy, and that proud! Just look at him!" cried the girl. Yet her
enthusiasm was dashed by the expression of deep sorrow on Miss
Maitland's face, and there were real tears in the widow's eyes as she
now advanced, broom in hand, though without apparent anger, to sweep
Punch out of the room.

Katharine was too surprised to protest, beyond quietly motioning the
broom aside and lifting the now submissive pug to her shoulder, where he
perched calmly contemplative of the disaster he had evoked.

"There, Eunice, don't fret. What can't be cured must be endured, you
know, and even a cat can't die but once. Only he was _such_ a cat! We
sha'n't never see his like again, an'--Take care there, sis! Don't you
know he al