mischief."

"You talk in the most ridiculous, unfair way," said Alice in
indignation; but she did not dare to mention the subject of the tennis
court again, and the boys still continued to build fresh sheds and
introduce new animals.

On this occasion, as Alice walked up to the house, she was met by Fred,
who ran out to meet her in some excitement.

"I say, Alice," he cried, "she's come, and she is a rum 'un!"

"Who has come?" asked Alice; "not--not Kitty Malone?"

"No one else, at your service, Kitty Malone, ohone!" cried Fred. "And
oh! isn't she Irish! You come along and see her. I never saw anything
like her before."

"Why, Fred, I didn't think you cared for girls."

"Nor do I as a rule, but this one--oh! I say she is a jolly sort. Why
she's been down in the kitchen and up in the attics--she knows every one
in the house already; and do you know what she is doing now--sitting in
the drawing-room with the window wide open, grinning down at you, and
she has got Pointer in her arms. You know Pointer, dirty old
fellow!--well, she caught him up the moment she came in, and insisted on
bringing him upstairs, and he has taken to her as if he had known her
ever since he was a puppy. Mean of him, isn't it; but I declare I don't
blame him. Oh! there you are, Kitty Malone." Fred raised his laughing
face to encounter another as laughing, a face at that moment grinning