is very much overdone. They
can do nothing, so long as you eat them while they are small."

The house-mouse stared at her in dismay:

"Cousin," she said, "you're terrible. I'm afraid of you."

"That's very sensible of you," said the rat. "And you mustn't call me
cousin. I have never troubled about distant connections; and it would
only make it unpleasant if I were to eat you one day. But, for the
present, I have had my fill, as I said; so you run no risk."

The house-mouse then visited the rat in her new home, which she thought
ever so nice, though a little too large from a mouse's point of view.
After that, she said good-bye and went back to her own place. But,
during the next few days, she came across to the barn every night and
had her share of the good things in the packing-case. The rat gnawed the
hole bigger, so that more came rushing out, always on the side turned
towards the corner, where no one could suspect it. The floor overflowed
with dainties; and they ate away like anything. On the fourth day, the
rat had her children, seven fine little ones.

"They look pretty enough to be mice," said the house-mouse.

"Heaven forbid!" said the rat. "If they don't become proper rats soon, I
will eat them without hesitation."

That night, the house-mouse took a large piece of cinnamon across with
her; for she had heard her young lady say that the case must be opened
shortly, so she was able to calculate that the fun would soon be over.

"Aren't you afraid of being discovered?" she asked the rat.

"A rat is never afraid," replied the rat. "If she were afraid, my good
girl, she would not be a rat."

"It must be strange to feel like that," said the house-mouse. "A
house-mouse is always afraid. If she were not afraid, I expect she would
not be a mouse."

"Very likely," said the rat. "But you had better go now. And remember
our arrangement that, when the case is gone, it's all over with
friendship and relationship and the rest of it."

"All right," said the mouse. "I shall make a point of keeping away. But
then you must always remember that it was you who bit the hole in the
case and stood treat with all this. If you hadn't come, I should only
have licked a bit on the outside, as usual."

"You're a fool!" said the rat. "Good-bye."

4

The next day--it was ten o'clock in the morning: they remembered it many
years after at the forester's--the young lady and the odd man came
across to the barn to unpack the cas