to jump in beside them,
and be as warm and as cozy as a kitten himself. The little things never
were heard to mew; so it may be supposed they liked his society. And the
old mother-cat evidently bore him no malice for the whipping she had got
by mistake; so Brownie must have found means of coaxing her over. One
thing you may be sure of--all the while she and her kittens were in his
coal-cellar, he took care never to turn himself into a mouse.

He was spending the winter, on the whole, very comfortably, without much
trouble either to himself or his neighbors, when one day, the
coal-cellar being nearly empty, two men, and a great wagon-load of coals
behind them, came to the door, Gardener's wife following.

"My man says you're to give the cellar a good cleaning out before you
put any more in," said she, in her sharp voice; "and don't be lazy about
it. It'll not take you ten minutes, for it's nearly all coal-dust,
except that one big lump in the corner--you might clear that out too."

"Stop, it's the Brownie's lump! better not meddle with it," whispered
the little scullery-maid.

"Don't you meddle with matters that can't concern you," said the
Gardener's wife, who had been thinking what a nice help it would be to
her fire. To be sure, it was not her lump of coal, but she thought she
might take it; the mistress would never miss it, or the Brownie either.
He must be a very silly old Brownie to live under a lump of coal.

So she argued with herself, and made the men lift it. "You must lift it,
you see, if you are to sweep the coal-cellar out clean. And you may as
well put it on the barrow, and I'll wheel it out of your way."

This she said in quite a civil voice, lest they should tell of her, and
stood by while it was being done. It was done without any thing
happening, except that a large rat ran out of the coal-cellar door,
bouncing against her feet, and frightening her so much that she nearly
tumbled down.

"See what nonsense it is to talk of Brownies living in a coal-cellar.
Nothing lives there but rats, and I'll have them poisoned pretty soon,
and get rid of them."

But she was rather frightened all the same, for the rat had been such a
very big rat, and had looked at her, as it darted past, with such wild,
bright, mischievous eyes--brown eyes, of course--that she all but jumped
with surprise.

However, she had got her lump of coal, and was wheeling it quietly away,
nobody seeing, to her cottage at the bottom of