Peggy in Her Blue Frock | Page 3

and
boy when their mother came in to see if they were tucked up for the
night.
"Are you still awake?" she asked. "I wonder what you do find to talk
about when you see each other all day long."
CHAPTER II
A CAT IN A STRANGE GARRET
There were others who felt as if they were in a strange garret, after the
moving, besides the cat. The children's mother was very homesick, for
she was tired out; and she felt sad and lonely in the small house where
her husband had never lived. The children did not mind so much, but it
was strange, when they waked in the morning, to see the unfamiliar
stretch of pasture from their window instead of the garden and the next
house.
But Pussy minded it so much that she slipped out while the others were
having their breakfast. They were all so busy that no one missed her
until dinnertime, and then Peggy and Alice looked everywhere in the
small house and they called "Lady Jane" many times, but no little furry,
gray pussy answered.
Their grandmother had gone back to New York and their mother was

too busy getting settled to hunt for the cat.
"She'll come back when she gets hungry," she said. "I want you
children to help me unpack. See these nice drawers for the linen."
"I don't think they are half so nice as the linen closet in the other
house," said Alice.
"Now, children," said their mother, "no one ever said this house was so
nice as the large one where you were born, and we can't pretend life is
so pleasant as if we had your father here with us; but we have a great
deal to be thankful for. If we haven't much money, we have health and
strength and each other. Your father said to me when he went away:
'Mary, if I don't come back, I don't want you and the children ever to
forget me, but I want you to remember all the happy times we have had
together, and to think how glad I'd be of all the happy times you'd have
by yourselves.'"
The children got very much interested in arranging the linen in the
drawers.
"Oh, Peggy, you are no housekeeper; the pillowcases don't go in that
drawer," said her mother. "See how carefully Alice puts the towels in."
Alice smiled and showed her dimples, and Peggy stopped and gave
Alice a hug.
"Things seem just to slide out of my hands," said Peggy; "and I can't
remember which drawer the things go in."
There was a cupboard where Alice's dolls were to live, and it interested
her greatly to get this apartment ready for them. So they all again forgot
about Lady Jane Grey until supper-time. Their mother put bowls of
milk on the table for the children, with plenty of bread and jam; and
there was a big saucer of milk for Lady Jane, warmed just the way she
liked it. Again they called her, but she did not come. Peggy made a trip
down cellar, thinking she might have hidden there, and she hunted the
house from top to bottom, but there was no dainty Lady Jane to be

seen.
"She'll come back sometime," said their mother; but the children were
not so sure of this.
It seemed sad to go to bed without knowing what fate had befallen
Lady Jane; but their mother was sure she would come back that night.
In the morning Peggy ran downstairs eagerly before she was dressed.
"Has she come, mother?" she asked.
"Has who come?" said her mother, whose mind was on starting the
kitchen fire.
"Lady Jane."
"No, she hasn't come."
"And it is so wet," said Peggy, as she looked at the falling rain; "she'll
get drenched without any rubbers or raincoat."
"You can be sure she is under shelter somewhere. A cat can always
look out for herself."
"But, mother, I'm worried about her."
"I think," said Mrs. Owen, as she put the oatmeal into the double-boiler,
"that she has gone back to her old home."
"But, mother dear, she couldn't like strange people better than she likes
us!"
"Cats are strange creatures," said Mrs. Owen. "Run along and get
dressed. After breakfast if the rain holds up you and Alice can run over
to the Hortons' house and telephone to the Carters', to see if she is there.
I shall be glad when we get our telephone in."
The rain did not stop, but the children were so persistent that after

breakfast Mrs. Owen let them put on their rubbers and raincoats and
run over to the Hortons' house. The house was up a long avenue of
trees. On this March day there were no leaves on