would he have been encouraged to bring
her another present, do you think?"

"No, indeed, ma."

"Shall I tell you what I was thinking when you were trying on your
vest?"

Fred held down his head, his cheeks covered with blushes.

"I said to myself, 'My son feels very indignant because Mrs. Perry
did not thank him for carrying home her cat. Now, if he himself had a
grateful heart, he would thank me for taking so much pains with his
new suit, instead of being so sulky about the trifling annoyance of
trying it on. I had better make the vest anyhow since he is so
ungrateful.'"

"Did you think that, ma? I'm real sorry. I wont act so again. I have
thought ever so much about it; and last night, after you prayed with
me, I said to myself, 'I ought to be a real good boy, ma's so kind to
sit up and work on my clothes.'"

Ned Perry was in the same class at Sabbath school, as Fred Carleton.
As they were walking home together, Ned said,--

"I don't see how our cat happened to run away. Mother said you brought
her home."

"Yes, I did! If she comes again, I sha'n't try it through all the mud.
I got awfully tired."

"Why didn't you keep her?"

"I thought you'd be looking everywhere; and Hatty said I ought to go.
I'll give you my new top if you'll let me keep her."

"I'll do it; for mother hates to have her round; she kills chickens
so."

"Kills chickens! Oh, I guess that's what she was after at our house."

Fred suddenly remembered that he had first seen her near the hen-coop;
and he also remembered that this was Sunday, and that he ought not to
have been making bargains about cats.

"That was a real good story Miss Darling told us to-day," he said,
changing the subject.

"Yes, she's a tip-top teacher! She makes us understand the lesson; and
that's what I never did before."

"I'm going to wait here till Hatty comes up," said Fred, stopping at
the corner where his companion had to leave him, and looking earnestly
up the street.

"When do you want the kitty?"

"I don't want her if she kills chickens; but I'll talk with Hatty
about it to-morrow."

"Did Ned thank you?" asked Hatty, smiling.

"No, he don't want the cat!"

Fred then repeated the story which his teacher had related. The
subject of temperance had come up in connection with the lesson, and
Miss Darling wished to impress upon the minds of her class the evils
of drunkenness. As you may like to hear the story, I will relate it in
the next chapter.