oking Puss, Junior, and said in a kindly
voice:

"Well, my fine little cat, what can I do for you?"

Puss, Junior, didn't know just what to answer. In fact, as he hadn't
come for anything, he couldn't think of anything to fit the question.
But little Tom Thumb, however, called over from where he was sitting in
the Welshwoman's lap, that they had come to call, and that they were
strangers in town, traveling through on a journey of adventure.

"Did you hear what they say about me?" asked Taffy.

"Yes, we did," replied Puss, "but, somehow, I didn't believe it then;
and I'm very sure I don't believe it now."

"Bless you for that," cried the little Welshwoman, "my Taffy is no
thief. There has been a great mistake about it all."

"Yes, that there has," said Taffy, "but how can I prove it? Someone with
a red beard stole the piece of beef from the butcherman, and then they
said it was I. But I was never near his place, nor did I lay hands on
meat or marrow-bone."

At that moment there came a loud knocking at the front door, and when
the little Welshwoman opened it, whom should she find but the butcherman
himself!

[Illustration]

"See what I have brought to you," he said, holding up a false red beard.
"I found this to-day behind a barrel in my shop. It's like your Taffy's
beard." At this the little Welshwoman opened her eyes very wide and
tried to speak, but she was so surprised she couldn't.

When the butcher went to say that perhaps the man who wore this beard
was the one who had stolen his beef, the little Welshwoman began to cry
softly, and the big butcher, who had a kind heart, said, "Don't cry, my
good woman, I don't think now your Taffy stole the beef, and that's the
reason I've come all the way up here to show you this beard. So you tell
Taffy that I shall tell everybody in town that it wasn't he who stole my
beef, but some thief who wore a red beard: and then, I'll show them what
I found in my shop, and that will prove what I say. Everybody will be
glad to know that Taffy isn't to blame."

As soon as the butcher had gone, she flew upstairs to tell Taffy the
good news. And it almost made Taffy cry. If he hadn't been a man, he
would have. But it was hard work not to, just the same. "My head feels
better already," he said with a laugh that had a big catch in it.

"Take off the bandages, little woman. I'll come down to supper, and
these two small friends of ours shall spend the night with us, for they
have b