h
her face as if her morning toilette had been interrupted by her sudden
abduction.

"That's all very well, but it doesn't mend matters much, so you needn't
laugh, Celia," began Thorny, recovering himself, and stubbornly bent on
sifting the case to the bottom, now he had begun.

"Well, it would, if you'd let a feller alone. She said she wanted a
cat, so I went and got the one they gave me when I was at the Squire's.
I went early and took her without asking, and I had a right to,"
explained Ben, much aggrieved by having his surprise spoiled.

"It was very kind of you, and I'm glad to have this nice kitty. We will
shut her up in my room to catch the mice that plague me," said Miss
Celia, picking up the little cat, and wondering how she would get her
two angry boys safely down stairs.

"The dressing-room, she means; you know the way, and you don't need keys
to get in," added Thorny, with such sarcastic emphasis that Ben felt
some insult was intended, and promptly resented it.

"You won't get me to climb any more trees after your balls, and my cat
won't catch any of your mice, so you needn't ask me."

"Cats don't catch thieves, and they are what I'm after!"

"What do you mean by that?" fiercely demanded Ben.

"Celia has lost some money out of her drawer, and you won't let me see
what's in yours; So I thought, perhaps, you'd got it!" blurted out
Thorny, finding it hard to say the words, angry as he was, for the face
opposite did not look like a guilty one.

For a minute, Ben did not seem to understand him, plainly as he spoke;
then he turned an angry scarlet, and, with a reproachful glance at his
mistress, opened the little drawer so that both could see all that it
contained.

"They ain't any thing; but I'm fond of 'em they are all I've got--I
was afraid he'd laugh at me that time, so I wouldn't let him look--it
was father's birthday, and I felt bad about him and Sanch--" Ben's
indignant voice got more and more indistinct as he stumbled on, and
broke down over the last words. He did not cry, however, but threw back
his little treasures as if half their sacredness was gone; and, making a
strong effort at self-control, faced around, asking of Miss Celia, with
a grieved look,

"Did you think I'd steal anything of yours?"

"I tried not to, Ben, but what could I do? It was gone, and you the only
stranger about the place."

"Wasn't there any one to think bad of but me? he said, so sorrowfully
that Miss Celia made