delivered a huge box. The two men together had to take it in, it was
so clumsy, though the weight was not much. In answer to the old
man's inquiries as to who sent it, &c., the black only pointed to
his mouth and ears, significantly, to intimate that he was deaf and
dumb. On the top of the box was marked in red chalk "Miss Mary--."

As soon as she came down, she was led to the box. It was opened with
some difficulty. Inside was a quantity of cotton wool, and scattered
about in the wool were little packages of soft paper, and inside of
each was a little china cat. When all were taken out, the young lady
found herself the possessor of a white china cat with gold ears and
gold collar, and five little china kittens of various colors.

It did no good asking questions, and the poor young lady resigned
herself to her fate.

The part of the house in which Miss Mary slept was a sort of wing.
The only room there with a chimney was hers. The roof communicated
with a shed, so that it was not difficult for a good climber to get
at the chimney.

On Friday morning, Miss Mary was awakened by a rattling in the
chimney corner where, to her amazement, was a "Noah's ark" dangling
by a string. She took hold of it, and drew it out of the chimney.

"This must be meant for one of the little children," thought she.
But no; the ark bore her name. On opening it, she discovered that it
was a collection made from many arks, a cat having been culled from
each. So there were cats of many sizes, and all painted as red as
they could be. They made a long procession of red cats.