PARLOR, 179

THE DEPARTURE, 190

SCENE OF THE STORY.

Franconia, a place among the mountains at the North. The time is
summer.

PRINCIPAL PERSONS.

MRS. HENRY, a lady residing at Franconia.

ALPHONZO, commonly called Phonny, about nine years old.

MALLEVILLE, Phonny's cousin from New York, seven years old.

WALLACE, Malleville's brother, a college student, visiting Franconia
at this season.

STUYVESANT, Wallace's brother, about nine years old.

ANTOINE BIANCHINETTE, commonly called Beechnut, a French boy, now
about fourteen years old, living at Mrs. Henry's.

STUYVESANT.

CHAPTER I.

THE CAVERN.

One pleasant summer morning Alphonzo was amusing himself by swinging
on a gate in front of his mother's house. His cousin Malleville, who
was then about eight years old, was sitting upon a stone outside of
the gate, by the roadside, in a sort of corner that was formed between
the wall and a great tree which was growing there. Malleville was
employed in telling her kitten a story.

The kitten was sitting near Malleville, upon a higher stone.
Malleville was leaning upon this stone, looking the kitten in the
face. The kitten was looking down, but she seemed to be listening very
attentively.

"Now, Kitty," said Malleville, "if you will sit still and hark, I will
tell you a story,--a story about a mouse. I read it in a book. Once
there was a mouse, and he was white, and he lived in a cage. No I
forgot,--there were three mice. I'll begin again.

"Once there was a boy, and he had three white mice, and he kept them
in a cage."

Here Malleville's story was interrupted by Phonny, who suddenly called
out:

"Here comes Beechnut, Malleville."

"I don't care," said Malleville, "I'm telling a story to Kitty, and
you must not interrupt me."

Here the kitten jumped down from the stone and ran away.

"Now Phonny!" said Malleville, "see what you have done;--you have made
my Kitty go away."

"I didn't make her go away," said Phonny.

"Yes you did," said Malleville, "you interrupted my story, and that
made her go away."

Phonny laughed aloud at this assertion, though Malleville continued to
look very serious. Phonny then repeated that he did not make the
kitten go away, and besides, he said, he thought that it was very
childish to pretend to tell a story to a kitten.

Malleville said that she did not think it was childish at