262 HOME AND GARDEN 



the oak-beamed gallery, and down the main stairway 

 which comes straight into the sitting-room. It was 

 after dinner, and I was sitting reading with little 

 Tommy on my lap. Patty came down the stairs at 

 a sharp trot, calling her kitten, who jumped down to 

 go to her. They often have a game of play together 

 between dinner and bedtime, and though the game 

 was rather more active than usual I thought nothing 

 of it, although I did hear some squeaks not quite like 

 the kitten's. The pussies were taken away to bed at 

 ten o'clock, and it was not till the next morning, when 

 they were let in again, and they made straight for 

 the sitting-room, where the housemaid found a grand 

 rabbit-hunt going on, that the unusual squeaks and 

 the extra play of the evening before were accounted 

 for. The bit of rabbit-fur that Patty brought down 

 the stairs had a little rabbit inside it ! The poor 

 little beast must have passed a frightened night in a 

 corner of the room, where the pussies found him again, 

 and continued their interrupted hunt. We thought 

 that this time the baby-bunny should be let off, for 

 though they are so mischievous in the garden that 

 we do all we can to get rid of them, yet this one 

 was so young and so pretty, and cried so piteously, 

 that he was given his liberty, and away he scuttled 

 off into the wood. 



Each grown-up pussy chooses a different garden 

 region as his special domain. Pinkioboy has his own 

 jungle, a small thicket close to the house, where 



