no gentleman."

"Well--I should hope not!" Miss Kitty Cat gasped.

"I thought you were a gentleman, or I should never have spoken to you,"
Henrietta Hen declared. "When I first saw you I said to myself, 'Here's
a quiet, polite gentleman! It will be pleasant to have him living at the
farmhouse.' But I see that I was mistaken."

"You were!" cried Miss Kitty, who was--to say the least--greatly
astonished by Henrietta's odd remarks. "My name is Miss Kitty Cat. And
what made you think I was a gentleman is more than I can guess."

"_Miss!_" cried Henrietta. "_Miss!_ Then why, pray tell me, do you wear
those whiskers?"

Try as she would, Miss Kitty could give no reason that satisfied
Henrietta Hen. And Henrietta always declared that Miss Kitty Cat was a
strange, strange person.

VI

BEECHNUT SHUCKS

ONCE in a while Frisky Squirrel paid a visit to Farmer Green's place.
Although he had learned that the farmyard was not without its dangers,
after one adventure Frisky was always sure to return, sometime, as if in
search of another.

So a certain fine, fall day found him scampering along the top of the
stone wall that followed the road as it dropped down the hill from the
woods to Farmer Green's front gate.

Old Mr. Crow, sailing lazily over the yellowing fields, caught sight of
the stone wall traveller and glided into a tree beside the road. "You'd
better not go near the farmyard, young fellow!" old Mr. Crow called.

Frisky Squirrel stopped, sat down, and looked up at Mr. Crow in the tree
above him.

"Why not?" Frisky inquired.

"Haven't you heard the news?" Mr. Crow asked him. "Haven't you heard
that there's a cat at the farmhouse?"

"I didn't know it," Frisky admitted. "But I don't see why I should turn
back. I won't hurt her."

Old Mr. Crow _haw-hawed_.

"I don't believe," he croaked, "you've ever met a cat."

"No, I haven't," Frisky Squirrel replied, "but I'd like to see one. So
I'll be on my way. But don't worry, Mr. Crow? I won't hurt her." And
then Frisky started off along the top of the stone wall once more, at a
somewhat brisker pace to make up for lost time.

"He can't say I didn't warn him," Mr. Crow exclaimed as he watched the
bouncing bit of gray fur.

"I hope Mr. Crow won't worry," said Frisky Squirrel to himself. "If the
cat gets hurt it will be her own fault, for I certainly won't harm her."

When Frisky reached the farmyard he crept around a corner of the barn,
hoping to find a