like to go to bed. She did not feel ill, she said, but she was
first very hot and then very cold. Nurse Smith sent for the doctor; and
he came and looked kindly at her, and felt her pulse and said she must
stay in bed and he would send some medicine. And she went to sleep, and
had funny dreams in which she plainly saw the kitchen cat dressed in
Aunt Clarkson's bonnet and cloak. It stood by her bed and talked in
Aunt Clarkson's voice, and she saw its grey fur paws under the folds of
the cloak. She wished it would go away, and wondered how she could have
been so fond of it. When Nurse came to give her something she said
feebly:

"Send the cat away."

"Bless you, my dear, there's no cat here," she answered. "There's
nobody been here but me and Mrs Clarkson."

At last there came a day when she woke up from a long sleep and found
that the pain in her head was gone, and that the things in the room
which had been taking all manner of queer shapes looked all right again.

"And how do you feel, Miss Ruth, my dear?" asked Nurse, who sat sewing
by the bedside.

"I'm quite well, thank you," said Ruth. "Why am I in bed in the middle
of the day?"

"Well, you haven't been just quite well, you know," said Nurse.

"Haven't I?" said Ruth. She considered this for some time, and when
Nurse came to her with some beef-tea in her hand, she asked:

"Have I been in bed more than a day?"

"You've been in bed a week," said Nurse. "But you'll get along finely
now, and be up and about again in no time."

Ruth drank her beef-tea and thought it over. Suddenly she dropped her
spoon into the cup. The kitchen cat! How it must have missed her if
she had been in bed a week. Unable to bear the idea in silence, she sat
up in bed with a flushed face and asked eagerly:

"Have you seen the cat?"

Nurse instantly rose with a concerned expression, and patted her
soothingly on the shoulder.

"There now, my dear, we won't have any more fancies about cats and such.
You drink your beef-tea up and I'll tell you something pretty."

Ruth took up her spoon again. It was of no use to talk to Nurse about
it, but it was dreadful to think how disappointed the cat must have been
evening after evening. Meanwhile Nurse went on in a coaxing tone:

"If so be as you make haste and get well, you're to go alonger me and
stay with your Aunt Clarkson in the country. There now!"

Ruth received the news calmly. It did not seem a very pleasant
pros