not.
"Put her in the window," said Mr. Mugg, when he and his daughter reached
the toy shop. "That little girl who was going to buy her may see the Cat
and come in for her."
So the China toy was again put in the show window of the shop, which had
been cleaned and put to rights after the fire. In the same window was
some doll's furniture, and on the bureau was a looking glass. The China
Cat caught a glimpse of herself. She was as clean and white as a new
snowball.
"Oh, how glad I am!" she said to herself.
She looked all around. There in the window with her were most of the
toys she had known for a long time. They did not seem to have been
burned or scorched by the fire. In fact, though some of his playthings
were damaged, Mr. Mugg did not, of course, put any of these in his show
window.
Near the China Cat was a Jumping Jack, a Jack in the Box, the Talking
Doll, a Policeman and a Fireman--not the same Policeman and Fireman who
had been in the basement, but some just like them. Throughout the store
was a smell of smoke; but this could not be helped.
The China Cat would have liked very much to speak to some of the other
toys, but she was not allowed to do so.
"But when night comes," she said to herself, "I shall have a chance.
Then we can all talk about the fire. I wonder if any of my friends had
such adventures as I had?"
But the China Cat did not get the chance she hoped for. That very
afternoon, the same day that she had been put in the show window, a
little girl and a lady came to a stop outside the toy shop, to look in
through the glass.
"Oh, Aunt Clara! See!" cried the little girl. "There is the China Cat
you were going to buy for me! Mr. Mugg thought she was smashed in the
fire, but she wasn't and here she is. Oh, please take me in and get me
the China Cat!"
"Very well, my dear," said Aunt Clara. "I promised you the toy and you
may have her."
The China Cat heard what was said, and, looking out of the window, she
saw the same nice little girl who had once held her in her hands.
"Oh, I hope nothing happens this time," whispered the Cat. "I should
like to live with that nice little girl."
"We have come for the China Cat, Mr. Mugg," said Aunt Clara, as the toy
man came forward to wait on his customers. "We called right after the
fire, but everything was so upset we did not come in."
"Oh, wasn't that fire dreadful!" sighed Mr. Mugg, raising his hands. "I
thought my whole place would burn!
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