little china cat. When all were taken out, the young lady
found herself the possessor of a white china cat with gold ears and
gold collar, and five little china kittens of various colors.

It did no good asking questions, and the poor young lady resigned
herself to her fate.

The part of the house in which Miss Mary slept was a sort of wing. The
only room there with a chimney was hers. The roof communicated with a
shed, so that it was not difficult for a good climber to get at the
chimney.

On Friday morning, Miss Mary was awakened by a rattling in the chimney
corner where, to her amazement, was a "Noah's ark" dangling by a
string. She took hold of it, and drew it out of the chimney.

"This must be meant for one of the little children," thought she. But
no; the ark bore her name. On opening it, she discovered that it was a
collection made from many arks, a cat having been culled from each. So
there were cats of many sizes, and all painted as red as they could be.
They made a long procession of red cats.

On Saturday morning, the young lady awoke very early, but found nothing
in her chimney corner. Although the weather was very cold, she went
out, as was her custom, to walk in the garden before breakfast. There
was a high wall on the side of the garden next the street. She walked
down by the side of this wall towards a little arbor at the bottom of
the garden. Just as she reached the arbor, she was startled by a squeak
from the top of the wall, and something fell just at her feet. Taking
the thing up, she perceived that it was a toy cat with a mewing
arrangement underneath. It had been carefully wrapped up, but the paper
was broken in the attempt to make it mew at the top of the wall. The
lady burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter; but, in answer to
her laugh, came a dismal mewing from the other side of the wall; and,
as she walked towards the house, at every few steps, a yowling toy cat
jumped over, and fell at her feet.

The next day was Sunday, and the lady said, "I shall be left in peace
to-day, I think all the different kinds of cats must be exhausted."

On going to her writing table, after breakfast, she found a little
package lying on some note paper. It was very heavy, and was directed
to her in a hand she did not recognize. It proved to be a most
beautiful Paris bronze cat paper weight. The cat had her paw on a bird,
and looked so life-like that it was almost painful to see her.

"I am now in a