ed on her
knees, she laid her on the cushion; instantly Blacky would spring into
the work-basket, and when she took her out of that, right up in her lap
again. On that cushion she would not lie. At last Aunt Hannah was heard
to say, "I believe it is of no use, I'll have to give up to thee, little
cat;" and now Blacky lies in Aunt Hannah's work-basket whenever she
feels like lying there instead of in Rosy's little chair or in
somebody's lap; and I dare say by the time I go to Burnet again, I shall
find that Aunt Hannah has given up in the matter of the lap also, and
is holding Blacky on her knees as many hours a day as anybody else in
the house.

[Illustration: "Now Blacky lies in Aunt Hannah's work-basket whenever
she feels like lying there."--PAGE 96.]

There was a great deal of discussion among the children as to the places
where the little kittens were living now, and as to which ones were
given away, and which ones had run away.

I suppose when Jerry had a half-dozen kittens to give away all at once,
he couldn't stop to select them very carefully, or to sort them out by
name, or recollect where each one went.

"I know where Spitfire is," said Johnny; "I saw him yesterday."

"Where?" said Phil.

"I won't tell," said Johnny, "but I know."

"Juniper, he ran away. He'll take care of himself. He used to come back
once in a while. We'd see him round the barn. Mousiewary, she comes
sometimes now; I saw her the other day. She's real smart."

"Well, old Mammy Tittleback's the best of 'em all," said Phil, catching
her up and trying to make her snuggle down in his lap. But Mammy
Tittleback did not like to be held. She wriggled away, jumped down, and
walked restlessly toward the kitchen door. Phil followed, opened the
door, and let her go out. "She won't let you pet her," he said; "she's a
real business cat, she always was. She likes to stay in the barn and
hunt rats better than anything in the world, except when it's so cold
she can't."

"She used to let me hold her sometimes in the summer," said Rosy.

"Oh, that was different. She had to be staying round then, doing
nothing, to look after the kittens," replied Phil. "She wasn't wasting
any time then being held, but she won't let you hold her now more 'n two
or three minutes at a time. She jumps right down, and goes off as if she
was sent for."

After the children had gone to bed, Mrs. Chapman told us a very droll
part of the history of the cats' journey,--what m