m, and drove him out. However, he saw that I was alive,
and that was something. I am afraid it will be some days yet before I
can see him again, for they do not let me go out at all, and the
bandages are not taken off my leg. The cradle is carried upstairs, and I
sleep on Charlie's blanket behind the stove. I heard your mother say
to-day that she really believed the cat had the rheumatism. I do not
know what that is, but I think I have got it: it hurts me all over when
I walk, and I feel as if I looked like Bill Jacobs's old cat, who, they
say, is older than the oldest man in town; but of course that must be a
slander.

The thing I am most concerned about is my fur; it is coming off in
spots: there is a bare spot on the back of my neck, on the place by
which they lifted me up out of the soap barrel, half as large as your
hand; and whenever I wash myself, I get my mouth full of hairs, which
is very disagreeable. I heard your grandfather say to-day, that he
believed he would try Mrs. Somebody's Hair Restorer on the cat, at which
everybody laughed so that ran out of the room as fast as I could go, and
then they laughed still harder. I will write you again in a day or two,
and tell you how I am getting on. I hope you will come home soon.

Your affectionate Pussy.

[Illustration: "Then your grandfather made up a nice bed in the
cradle, and laid me down in it."--Page 76.]

[Illustration: "One day he slipped in between the legs of the
butcher boy, but before I had time to say a word to him, Mary flew
at him with the broom."--Page 81.]

VII.

My Dear Helen:

I am so glad to know that you are coming home next week, that I cannot
think of any thing else. There is only one drawback to my pleasure, and
that is, I am so ashamed to have you see me in such a plight. I told
you, in my last letter, that my fur was beginning to come off. Your
grandfather has tried several things of his, which are said to be good
for hair; but they have not had the least effect. For my part I don't
see why they should; fur and hair are two very different things, and I
thought at the outset there was no use in putting on my skin what was
intended for the skin of human heads, and even on them don't seem to
work any great wonders, if I can judge from your grandfather's head,
which you know is as bald and pink and shiny as a baby's. However, he
has been so good to me, that I let him do any thing he likes, and ever