like her, don't you?" he
asked Snowball.

"Yes. But how you rattle on," said the China Cat. "You don't give one a
chance to think."

"Yes, Jack is always like that," said the Wooden Doll.

"Well, let's have some fun," went on Jack. "What do you say to a game of
tag?"

Leaning over, which he could readily do, as the coiled spring inside him
was so easy to bend, Jack touched the China Cat. But Jack must have
leaned too far, or too suddenly, for he brushed the Wooden Doll to one
side.

"Oh, look out!" she cried. "You have knocked me off the shelf! Oh, there
I go!" and the Wooden Doll fell straight down!

"Now you have done it!" mewed the China Cat.

"I hope her neck isn't broken," said a tiny Celluloid Doll. "Oh, what an
accident!"

"I--I didn't mean to do it," said Jack sadly. "I'll go down and pick her
up."

"Hush! Keep quiet, all of you!" suddenly mewed the China Cat. "Some one
is coming!"

On the other side of the closet door, in the room where Jennie slept,
the toys could hear the voice of the little girl calling:

"Aunt Clara! Aunt Clara! Come here! There's something in my toy closet.
I heard a noise! Maybe that colored boy is trying to get Snowball, my
China Cat."

"Nonsense, Jennie. You imagined it, dear. Go to sleep now," replied her
aunt, coming in from her room and turning up the light.

"No, I didn't imagine it," declared Jennie. "I heard a noise in my
closet. Please look, Aunt Clara."

So Aunt Clara opened the door, and there she saw the Wooden Doll on the
floor. The Doll had fallen on some felt slippers and so was not in the
least hurt.

"There it is," said Jennie's aunt. "Your Wooden Doll fell off the shelf.
You couldn't have put her far enough back."

"Oh!" murmured Jennie sleepily. "I'm glad she wasn't broken, and I'm
glad my China Cat is all right."

Then Jennie went to sleep again, but she never knew, nor did her aunt,
that Jack had knocked down the Wooden Doll.

"Behave yourself now, Jack," said the Celluloid Doll, when the toys
were once more left alone. "If you play, let it be some easy game, like
telling stories or riddles."

"All right," agreed Jack. "Suppose the China Cat tells us the story of
the fire and the flood."

So the China Cat did, just as they are set down in this book. And after
that the toys played guessing games, and told riddles until it was time
for them to stop, as morning was at hand.

Jennie awakened early, and got her China Cat from the closet.

"