s black cat, who springing upon her defenceless prey,
strangled him in an instant. There was no fond Downy near, nor
affectionate Velvet, to receive his last sighs, nor give him aid.
The evening came, but no Silket returned to the disconsolate Downy;
another day passed, but they saw nothing of Silket, and they were at
last certain that he must have been killed. This heavy blow almost
overcame Downy, and it was with the greatest difficulty, Velvet could
persuade her to eat and be comforted; but every thing around them
served to recall the image, and remind them of the loss, of their
beloved Silket, and this gave them both great pain. At last, Velvet,
without saying any thing to her mother, stole away while she was
asleep, and having found a pretty spot, some way from farmer Ball's
land, she made a new house, much more convenient than the one they
then lived in; it was a long time before it was completed, but when it
was quite finished, and well stocked with grain, she brought Downy to
see it: it was situated in a pretty garden, on a beautiful sloping
green bank, under the shade of a fir tree, not many yards from a nice
white brick house, the front of which was covered with vines and
wall-fruit; there were pots of balsams and geraniums, placed on the
beds opposite the windows and glass door."

[Illustration]

"Why, mamma, (exclaimed Alfred, suddenly looking up in his mother's
face,) that was just like our garden, and our house." and he ran to
the window, and looked out into the garden, saying with great
vivacity, "Yes, mamma, it is the same; it is our garden with the
fir-tree and the bank, and all the flowers, exactly the same!" And he
turned an inquiring eye unto his mother.

Mrs. Clifford smiled, but made no reply to his exclamations of
surprise, and went on as if she had not heard him. "In this quiet
pretty spot they settled themselves, and Downy hoped to spend the rest
of her days in quiet; she wanted for nothing, for Velvet provided for
all her wants. Downy thought, if she should ever be deprived of her,
it would break her heart, and she must soon be starved to death, as
she could not work now, as she had done formerly. These thoughts made
her often very sorrowful, and Velvet thought she seemed to droop, and
lose her spirits and appetite, so Velvet thought to get something nice
to please her; she stole into the house one day, when nobody saw her,
and after some little time, she found her way into the cupboard, w