ss! Puss!" called out Ruth in an entreating voice as she hastily ran
down. "Stop a minute! _Pretty_ puss!"

Startled at the noise and the patter of the quick little feet, the cat
paused in its flight and turned its scared yellow-green eyes upon Ruth.

She had now reached the bottom step, where she stood struggling to get
the Bath bun out of her small pocket, her face pink with the effort and
anxiety lest the cat should go before she succeeded.

"_Pretty_ puss!" she repeated as she tugged at the parcel. "Don't go
away."

One more desperate wrench, which gashed open the corner of the pocket,
and the bun was out. The cat looked on with one paw raised, ready to
fly at the first sign of danger, as with trembling fingers Ruth managed
to break a piece off the horny surface. She held it out. The cat came
nearer, sniffed at it suspiciously, and then to her great joy took the
morsel, crouched down, and munched it up. "How good it must taste," she
thought, "after the mice and rats."

By degrees it was induced to make further advances, and before long to
come on to the step where Ruth sat, and make a hearty meal of the bun
which she crumbled up for it.

"I'm afraid it's dry," she said; "but I couldn't bring any milk, you
know, and you must get some water afterwards."

The cat seemed to understand, and replied by pushing its head against
her, and purred loudly. How thin it was! Ruth wondered as she looked
gravely at it whether it would soon be fatter if she fed it every day.
She became so interested in talking to it, and watching its behaviour,
that she nearly forgot she had to go into the dining-room, and jumped up
with a start.

"Good-night," she said. "If you'll come again I'll bring you something
else another day." She looked back as she turned the handle of the
heavy door. The cat was sitting primly upright on the step washing its
face after its meal. "I expect it doesn't feel so hungry now," thought
Ruth as she went into the room.

The acquaintance thus fairly begun was soon followed by other meetings,
and the cat was often in the hall when Ruth came downstairs, though it
did not appear every evening. The uncertainty of this was most
exciting, and "Will it be there to-night?" was her frequent thought
during the day. As time went on, and they grew to know each other
better, she began to find the kitchen cat a far superior companion to
either her dolls or the man in the picture. True, it could not answ