27 
Budge and Toddy 
it made me very unhappy. They asked the milk- 
man and the grocer and the letter-carrier to look 
out for the two kittens, but we never heard any- 
thing more of them, and I was without any com- 
panions for quite a while. 
As for me I rather enjoyed being alone, because 
mistress and the boy paid more attention to me 
than they had ever done before. At meal-time I 
was allowed to sit on a chair beside mistress, and at 
night I slept at the foot of her bed. 
But the days seemed very long, until I became 
acquainted with our neighbor’s dog, Dennis, a large 
handsome fellow with brown curly hair and beauti- 
ful brown eyes. Although Dennis had more good 
things at home than any one dog could eat, for he 
was always burying something in his yard, yet he 
came to our house daily for the little titbits that 
mistress would give to him. But having had one 
unpleasant experience with a dog I kept at a dis- 
tance from Dennis ; till one day he proved himself 
a real friend. Two saucy little curs came into my 
yard and chased me up a tree, when Dennis, with 
one bound, jumped at them and drove them away, 
and after that he and I were the best of friends. 
