stairs and
slammed the door behind her.

It was no wonder that Miss Kitty Cat was angry.

"A fine way to treat a guest!" she spluttered down there in the dark.
"That woman might have set out a little milk for me. It would have
tasted good, after my long ride in that stuffy basket." Miss Kitty
couldn't help thinking what a fine home she had had at Farmer Green's
and how good Mrs. Green had always been to her.

Even Johnnie Green--though he _was_ a boy--had petted her oftener than
he had pulled her tail.

But Miss Kitty was too hungry to sit long at the foot of the cellar
stairs in thought.

She soon heard faint rustlings squeaks, and scratchings around her. And
though she didn't care to oblige the woman upstairs in any way, Miss
Kitty lost no time in providing a hearty meal for herself.

Then she lay down on an old sack and slept for a while.

And just before the roosters began to crow she had found a broken pane
in a cellar window.

"What luck!" said Miss Kitty under her breath. And very silently she
slipped through the opening and stole away.

XX

A LONG JOURNEY

BY SUNRISE Miss Kitty Cat had trotted at least a mile along the road
that passed the peddler's house. She wanted to get a safe distance away
before the family got up and turned loose the dog that had barked the
night before, when she arrived.

Miss Kitty remembered clearly that the wagon had been climbing a long
hill before it turned into the peddler's dooryard. So without hesitating
she started _down_ the road. She knew that in that direction lay
Pleasant Valley--and her home at Farmer Green's.

Having put the first mile of her journey behind her, Miss Kitty stopped
beside a little brook and drank her fill of cool, sweet water. She was
very thirsty, because she hadn't had a drink since the evening before.

A pretty wood stretched beyond the brook, tempting Miss Kitty Cat to
explore it. At that hour of the morning there were many birds twittering
among the trees. And spry chipmunks were frisking about in search of
their breakfast. Miss Kitty Cat just naturally began to think of her own
breakfast.

"If I were at home, Mrs. Green would be setting a saucer of milk on the
woodshed steps about this time," she murmured. "But now I must shift for
myself."

Luckily Miss Kitty was quite able to find something to eat, as a
surprised meadow mouse soon discovered.

After breakfasting, Miss Kitty lingered a while to tease the birds, who
sco