h. Dis yere house 'll be de
def of me. Cookies? 'Cose you can have cookies, honey."

Hortense helped herself freely, remembering that Andy would want some.
With these in her hands she walked through the yard and around the
barn, where she found Andy.

"Cookies!" cheered Andy, and falling upon his share which Hortense gave
him, he ate them one after another as fast as he could, never saying a
word.

"Didn't you have any luncheon?" Hortense asked.

"Of course," said Andy, "but I squeezed so thin getting out of that box
that I'm hungry again."

"I suppose," said Hortense, "that when I want a second helping of
dessert and haven't room for it, all I need do is to squeeze in and out
of the box and then I can start all over again."

It seemed a delightful plan.

"We might do it now and get some more cookies," said Andy, hopefully.

"Aunt Esmerelda would catch us and tell Uncle Jonah," said Hortense.

She meditated on the delightful possibilities of the box.

"We could play hide and seek, sometime when nobody's about," she said.
"It's a grand place to hide."

"But we both know of it and there's nobody else to play with," said
Andy.

This was very true unless Highboy and Lowboy and the Firedogs and Owl
should be taken into the game. Hortense looked at Andy wondering
whether to tell him of these friends of hers and of the Cat.

"If we played at night," said Hortense, "we could have lots of people.
Highboy, and Lowboy, and Owl, and the Firedogs come out at night."

Andy stared at her with round eyes.

"They're the furniture, you know," said Hortense. "You can see some
things are alive and waiting to come out of themselves. I'm sure
Alligator Sofa and Malay Kris would play, too, if we asked them."

Andy's eyes were as big as saucers.

"Honest?" he asked doubtfully.

"They came out last night and we chased the cat, Jeremiah, into the
attic where he disappeared," said Hortense. "We must find out where he
went."

"Aw, you're fooling," said Andy, but he spoke weakly.

"Cross my heart 'n hope to die," said Hortense. "You come over to-night
after everybody's asleep, and I'll show you."

"I suppose I could get out of my window all right," said Andy
doubtfully, "but how could I get into your house?"

"By the cellar window and the wooden chute as you did to-day!" cried
Hortense. "Then I'd unlock the cellar door, and you could come up."

Andy seemed not to like the prospect.

"It will be dark," he said.

"Oh,