e,
And she grew quite tall,
But when she has reached your cottage
She will be quite small."

"Why?" asked the cat.

"Because the effect of the porridge only lasts whilst she is running."

"Oh!" responded the cat.

Upon which Nan herself came running in, and she was no larger than when
her mother was kneeling beside her in the garden.

"O my dear, dearest, darling, little pussy-cat! I have found you again,
and we will live together always, and you will let me play with you. I
am so glad to see you again."

The cat purred and rubbed her head against Nan, as much as to say "Yes."

And the woolly dog barked for joy.

[Illustration: "'THERE ARE TWO GIRLS RUNNING,' SAID ULICK" (_p. 363_).]

So Nan had won the race.

Nan looked out of the window and nodded to Ulick, who was panting in the
distance. She also held up the cat for him to see.

There was no longer any need for Ulick to run, for everything round him
was shouting--

"Nan has won the race!"

Yes, he knew that she had, and he wept bitterly and went home again.
Perhaps if he had also eaten the porridge he might have outstripped
Nan.

No one ever saw the house again, though once it returned to the spot
upon which it had stood near Ulick's home. It did not stay long there,
only just long enough for Nan's mother to pack up her clothes and join
her little girl, who was too small to live by herself.

Then the front door shut quite tightly, and the house fled away faster
than ever, and never stopped until it had reached a beautiful island
far, far away in the middle of the sea. There it paused, for no
gamekeepers, or traps, or cruel boys were to be found there. And in the
house on the beautiful island Nan and her mother, and the cat, and the
toy dog lived peacefully and happily for ever and ever.

JULIA GODDARD.

ETHEL'S PINK PLANT;

AND WHAT HAPPENED TO IT.

Ethel was always trying to write poetry, but it was so hard to find
rhymes. When the cat killed the big pink begonia, she did manage to find
a rhyme; and she thought the epitaph looked beautiful printed in violet
ink on a piece of paper--

"Here my poor begonia lies.
Drop a tear and wipe your eyes."

These were the only verses Ethel ever made. Perhaps we are beginning
near the end of the story. You may want to know what the big pink
begonia was, and how the cat killed it.

The beginning of this sad story was a red ribbon bow with a kitten
behind it: the bow was so big