en the door slammed and I was frightened and dropped the
cinnamon and ran away."

"Well, you fetched it afterwards, I suppose?" asked the wood-mouse. "You
said it was lying outside the hole."

"So it was," said the house-mouse. "But now I'll tell you how badly
things went. When I got down into the hole, I fell asleep. I don't know
how it is, but cinnamon always makes me so beautifully sleepy. And then
I have the most wonderful dreams about bacon and the very nicest things
I can think of. So I fell asleep and slept and slept and dreamt
beautifully. When I awoke at last, it was broad daylight, as I saw the
moment I put my nose outside the hole. The cinnamon was there all right.
But the mistress was in the room, so I dared not take it. And, when she
went out into the kitchen, she left the door open, a thing she never
does as a rule. And, all the time, she was walking up and down. And then
they began to unpack the case and she put the things away in the
cupboard and the sideboard. And then she suddenly stopped in front of my
hole, where the cinnamon was, you know, and then, of course, I was found
out. She was very much distressed at my deceit, as she called it, and
said that she had done with me and would never give me any more sugar.
And, since that day, I have not had a single lump. It's a terrible loss
to me."

"So it is," said the wood-mouse. "But what can you do? You can't explain
the thing to her, you know."

"No," said the house-mouse. "I can't do that. And now the rat-catcher
has been and a new cat has come, who is a regular demon at her business.
It's a perfect miracle that I have escaped so far. I half wish I were
dead. The good days in the forester's house are over; and they won't
come back either. It's hard, when one was looking forward to having a
fairly comfortable time in one's old age."

"Oh, you needn't think it's much better out here!" said the wood-mouse.
"There's a new young forester come; and he's a terror!"

"I know," said the house-mouse. "He came down with the rat-catcher. Jens
fetched them at the station."

"But the rat-catcher went back again," said the wood-mouse. "The young
forester stayed here and is still here; and I don't expect he will ever
go. He intends to grapple seriously with the mouse-plague, as he calls
it, meaning the field-mouse. The mast and acorns are being gathered
earlier than usual, so that we may starve to death. He wants to let cats
loose in the woods, I heard him say.