's wife was very sorry.

"Then," said Maisie, "it's lost! She might have taken more care of it.
I wish we hadn't given it to her!"

Poor little grey kitten! Homeless and helpless in the wide world! It
was so sad to think of it, that Maisie could not help crying, in spite
of Aunt Katharine's attempts to comfort her.

"After all," she sobbed out, "it hasn't got a home at all, and we did
take such trouble to find it one."

"Well, darling," said her aunt, "we must hope it has got a good home
still. Very likely some kind person found it, and took care of it."

"Do you really think so?" said Maisie, rubbing her eyes and looking up
with a gleam of hope; "but perhaps," she added sorrowfully, "an unkind
person met it."

Aunt Katharine smiled and kissed her little niece.

"Unfortunately, there are unkind people in the world, dear Maisie," she
said; "but I don't think there are many who would hurt a little harmless
kitten. So we must take all the comfort we can, and perhaps some day we
shall find it again."

Maisie did her best to look on the bright side of the misfortune, but
she could not help thinking of all the dangers the grey kitten was
likely to meet. There were so many dogs in Upwell, dogs like Snip and
Snap who delighted in chasing cats. There were carts and carriages too,
and many things which the kitten was far too young to understand. Its
ignorance of the world would lead it into all sorts of perils, and there
was little chance that it would ever be heard of again. She tried to
break the bad news as gently as possible to Madam, who seemed to listen
with indifference, and presently fell off to sleep, as though there were
no such thing as lost kittens in the world. Dennis also did not show
very much concern; but he was just now so busy with other matters that
perhaps this was not surprising.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

FOUND!

Meanwhile, what had become of the grey kitten? To learn this we must go
back to the time when it began its life in the tinsmith's house at
Upwell under the care of old Sally's Eliza. It was kept in the kitchen
at first, but by degrees, as it got used to the place, it was allowed to
run about where it liked, and its favourite room was the little back
parlour opening into the shop. Now the shop was forbidden ground, and
it was always chased back if it tried to enter: so perhaps it was for
this very reason that it seemed to have fixed its mind on doing it, and
one afternoon the cha