cart. Then there was a jolting, and a clattering of horse's feet; other
packages were thrown in; for miles and miles--jolt--jolt--jolt! and
Timmy Willie trembled amongst the jumbled up vegetables.

At last the cart stopped at a house, where the hamper was taken out,
carried in, and set down. The cook gave the carrier sixpence; the back
door banged, and the cart rumbled away. But there was no quiet; there
seemed to be hundreds of carts passing. Dogs barked; boys whistled in
the street; the cook laughed, the parlour maid ran up and down-stairs;
and a canary sang like a steam engine.

Timmy Willie, who had lived all his life in a garden, was almost
frightened to death. Presently the cook opened the hamper and began to
unpack the vegetables. Out sprang the terrified Timmy Willie.

Up jumped the cook on a chair, exclaiming "A mouse! a mouse! Call the
cat! Fetch me the poker, Sarah!" Timmy Willie did not wait for Sarah
with the poker; he rushed along the skirting board till he came to a
little hole, and in he popped.

He dropped half a foot, and crashed into the middle of a mouse dinner
party, breaking three glasses.--"Who in the world is this?" inquired
Johnny Town-mouse. But after the first exclamation of surprise he
instantly recovered his manners.

With the utmost politeness he introduced Timmy Willie to nine other
mice, all with long tails and white neckties. Timmy Willie's own tail
was insignificant. Johnny Town-mouse and his friends noticed it; but
they were too well bred to make personal remarks; only one of them asked
Timmy Willie if he had ever been in a trap?