spot on her breast were white.

"This is what the little cat saw, looking through the open door into the
great house:--

"A pleasant room hung with pictures, the floor covered with a soft
carpet, where all kinds of bright-colored flowers seemed to be growing,
and, in the sunniest corner, lying in an arm-chair piled with cushions,
a large tabby cat.

"Just then a gust of wind closed the door, and Furry-Purry ran round the
house to the barn and remained all day hidden in her hole under the
boards.

"That night there was a storm, and several cats in the neighborhood
crept into the barn for safety. There was old Mrs. Barebones, a cat with
a bad cough, which was thought to be in a decline; Tom Skip-an'-jump, a
sprightly young fellow with a tenor voice which he was fond of using on
moonlight nights; and Robber Grim, a fierce, one-eyed creature--the pest
of the neighborhood--with a great head and neck and flabby, hanging
cheeks and bare spots on his tawny coat where the fur had been torn out
in his fierce battles.

"The thunder roared overhead and the lightning, shining through the
cracks, played on the barn floor and showed the cats sitting gravely in
a circle. Only Tom Skip-an'-jump, who still kept his kittenish tricks,
went frisking after his tail and turning somersaults in the hay.
Presently he tumbled over Furry-Purry and bit her ear.

"'Come, play!' said he: 'it's a jolly time for puss-in-the-corner.'