ey find. Still they could hear her
crying "Meow! meow! meow!" all the time.

Back to the kitchen they went. "She must be in this room," said mamma;
"the meowing sounds louder here than it does anywhere else."

Round and round the room went Alice, peeping everywhere. Her mother
looked in all the places, too. No kitty in the cupboard, no kitty in
the china closet, no kitty in the washtubs, no kitty in the wood box!

At last Alice stood still, quite close to the big stove, wondering
where she could look next.

"Meow! meow! meow!"

"Oh, mamma. It sounds loudest right here!"

Alice's mother bent her head and listened. "So it does," she said.
Then she put her hand on the door of the big warming oven. She pulled
it open, and--out walked Topsy, very warm indeed, but not hurt at all.

Alice caught kitty up in her arms and gave her a good hug. The poor
cat's fur was quite hot.

"It's a good thing for pussy that we found her as soon as we did," said
mamma.

Alice gave Topsy a saucer of milk, and soon her pet was curled up in
the doll's cradle fast asleep and none the worse for her warming.

TOPSY STORIES.

III. HOW TOPSY MOTHERED HER NEIGHBOR'S KITTENS.

Topsy had no babies of her own. Tarlequin, her next door neighbor, had
two soft, little, cuddley ones. Topsy was lonely. Her tail grew big
and bushy, and her eyes grew dark and bright as she trotted off toward
the wood shed where, in a barrel of nice smelling shavings, her
neighbor had set up housekeeping.

Tarlequin was not at home that morning. Topsy did not stop to knock,
but gave a big spring and landed right in the middle of the babies'
bed. Then she took one of the babies right in her mouth by the loose
skin at the back of its neck, jumped out of the barrel, and ran home as
fast as she could. She laid the stolen kitten softly down on her own
bed, and began to wash it all over with her funny rough tongue.

Soon the kitten began to cry, for it was hungry and missed its own
mother.

Alice heard the strange sound and ran to find out what it could be.

When Topsy saw her little mistress, she curled herself up all around
the stolen baby and began to growl and hiss, something she had never
done to Alice before.

"Oh, mamma, do come and see what Topsy has found!"

"Well, well!" said mamma. "It is one of Tarlequin's babies. Where did
she get it?"

"Why are Topsy's eyes so shiny, and why does she growl at me, mamma? I
am afraid to touch