import of the pussy's name in the most grave and serious manner, and
Malleville and Phonny listened with profound attention.

"What was the girl's name?" asked Malleville.

"The girl's?" repeated Beechnut. "Oh, her name was--Arabella."

"Well, go on," said Malleville.

"One day," continued Beechnut, "Sligo was walking about the house,
trying to find something to do. She came into the parlor. There was
nobody there. She looked about a little, and presently she saw a
work-basket upon the corner of a table, where Arabella's mother had
been at work. Sligo began to look at the basket, thinking that it
would make a good nest for her to sleep in, if she could only get it
under the clock. The clock stood in a corner of the room.

"Sligo accordingly jumped up into a chair, and from the chair to the
table, and then pushing the basket along nearer and nearer to the edge
of the table, she at last made it fall over, and all the sewing and
knitting work, and the balls, and needles, and spools, fell out upon
the floor. Sligo then jumped down and pushed the basket along toward
the clock. She finally got it under the clock, crept into it, curled
herself round into the form of a semicircle inside, so as just to fill
the basket, and went to sleep.

"Presently Arabella came in, and seeing the spools and balls upon
the floor, began to play with them. In a few minutes more, Arabella's
mother came in, and when she saw Arabella playing with these things
upon the floor, she supposed that Arabella herself was the rogue that