84 FRESH WOODS. 



on some such unusual occasion as that I have 

 mentioned, and then she could not have 

 opened the cupboard ; and yet these kittens 

 after ten days' imprisonment were alive and 

 well. Before I got home in the evening our 

 housemaid had consigned them to a watery 

 grave, and when I saw them they were float- 

 ing dead in a pail of water, but looking 

 plump and fat. All this evening, since I 

 have been at home, the steps leading to the 

 lawn have been haunted by that poor old 

 mother, uttering now and again a most piti- 

 ful wail and looking the picture of unutter- 

 able woe ; when I have gone to drive her 

 away, she has given me a look which says 

 plainly enough, " O, you cruel, cruel, old 

 man ! " Had I been at home before the 

 young ones were all drowned, I am afraid I 

 should have been tempted to leave her one 

 alive. I could easily have slipped it over the 

 wall into my neighbour's garden, where its 

 grateful mother would quickly have followed ; 

 but perhaps it is better as it is those four 

 innocents have been saved from a world of 

 trouble and I rather think my housemaid 

 is laying plans, in conjunction with our 

 gardener, by which it will not be their fault 

 if the mother does not quickly follow them. 

 Certainly it must be admitted that a cup- 



