ar by
walked off with quite a lot. Mr. Mugg, after the fire, made out a list
of his toys that were missing, and among them was this China Cat. I had
one of the lists.
"Then, when I was sent to rescue the people from the flood, I saw this
Cat on the mantel. I brought her here, as I do with all stolen things I
find, and you can send her back to Mr. Mugg."
The sergeant put on his glasses, for he was rather an elderly man, and
looked carefully at the China Cat.
"Bless me!" exclaimed the sergeant, "she _is_ a China Cat after all. I
took her for a real black and white pussy."
"Oh, dear me!" thought the China Cat. "He thought I was partly _black_!
I must be _very_ dirty indeed. My toy friends would never know me! Oh,
shall I ever be clean again?"
"Yes, it is only a toy China Cat," said the policeman who had rescued
the pussy, as well as the negro family. "I guess she was pure white
once. But she got blackened in the fire, and it didn't wash off in the
flood, though goodness knows it rained enough!"
"I should say so," agreed the sergeant. "Well, leave the China Cat here,
and I will send her back to Mr. Mugg. You didn't see any of his other
stolen toys, did you?"
"No," the policeman answered, "I did not. There was a little Cloth Dog
on the same shelf, but he had no tail and one eye was almost gone, so I
knew he didn't belong in the toy store, and I let him stay there."
"Poor little Cloth Dog!" thought the China Cat. "I wonder what will
become of him?"
However, she never heard, nor did she ever again see her little friend
without any tail. But I might tell you that the little Cloth Dog was
still on the mantel when the flood went down and Jeff and the family
moved back into their basement. The Cloth Dog was not drowned, and he
lived for many years after that, even without his tail, though I cannot
say he was very happy.
"Well, you take care of the China Cat. I am going to get my breakfast,"
said the policeman who had brought the white pussy into the station
house.
"I'll take care of her, and send her back to Mr. Mugg as soon as I have
a chance," the sergeant promised.
Then he set the China Cat off the top of the big desk, and on a smaller
one, so she would not get broken. All the remainder of the morning the
China Cat was in the police station, though she was not arrested, you
understand. Oh, my, no! She had done nothing wrong, even though she was
very dirty. But of course being dirty was not her fault.
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