en, pummelled, and sent to bed, with the assurance that
his mother should be sent for in the morning, to take him home, and keep
him there. This being exactly the point to which he was desirous of
bringing matters, he went to bed, and passed a most agreeable night.

Aunt Rachel, being one of those sleepers that nothing short of an
earthquake can rouse until their customary time for awaking, had slept
soundly through the stirring events of the past night. She came down in the
morning in quite a placid state of mind, expecting to enjoy a day of rest,
as she had the night before sat up much beyond her usual time, to set
matters to rights after the confusion consequent on the dinner party. What
was her astonishment, therefore, on finding the kitchen she had left in a
state of perfect order and cleanliness, in a condition that resembled the
preparation for an annual house-cleaning.

"Lord, bless us!" she exclaimed, looking round; "What on yarth has
happened? I raly b'lieve dere's bin a fire in dis 'ere house, and I never
knowed a word of it. Why I might have bin burnt up in my own bed! Dere's de
lamp broke--carpet burnt--pots and skillets hauled out of the closet--ebery
ting turned upside down; why dere's bin a reg'lar 'sturbance down here,"
she continued, as she surveyed the apartment.

At this juncture, she espied Tom, who sat licking his paws before the fire,
and presenting so altered an appearance, from the events of the night, as
to have rendered him unrecognizable even by his best friend.

"Strange cat in de house! Making himself quite at home at dat," said aunt
Rachel, indignantly. Her wrath, already much excited, rose to the boiling
point at what she deemed a most daring invasion of her domain. She,
therefore, without ceremony, raised a broom, with which she belaboured the
astonished Tom, who ran frantically from under one chair to another till
he ensconced himself in a small closet, from which he pertinaciously
refused to be dislodged. "Won't come out of dere, won't you?" said she.
"I'll see if I can't make you den;" and poor Tom dodged behind pots and
kettles to avoid the blows which were aimed at him; at last, thoroughly
enraged by a hard knock on the back, he sprang fiercely into the face of
his tormentor, who, completely upset by the suddenness of his attack, fell
sprawling on the floor, screaming loudly for help. She was raised up by
Robberts, who came running to her assistance, and, on being questioned as
to