56 Pussy Meow 
she finally consented to talk about it. 1 hen she 
told me that the folks all left the house and all the 
things were loaded on a wagon and taken away. 
Said she, “ I waited day after day on the doorsteps 
hoping they would come back. All I had to eat 
was what I could find in the ash pile, and nights I 
crawled into an old stovepipe.” 
This was so much worse than anything I had 
ever experienced, or even heard of, I hadn’t a word 
to say in reply. 
But evidently the cold and hunger that she had 
suffered had had their effect on little Beauty. Al- 
though she had the best of care, still a few days 
later she was taken so very ill one night that it 
caused her to groan most pitifully ; and in the morn- 
ing when Guy came down, her lifeless form lay on 
the floor, cold and stiff. 
Mistress very tenderly wrapped the little dead 
body in some soft white tissue paper, and put it in 
a box, and Guy buried it in the rear of the yard, 
marking the spot with a stake on which he printed : 
“ Sacred to the Memory of Beauty.” 
Then mistress planted some mignonette and pan- 
sies on the spot, and Guy fenced it in with pieces 
