GRAN'MA_ GRACIE.

fun in it as could be squeezed into so small a body. But Buzz had a temper,
possibly soured by jealousy of Grant, whom he utterly detested.

Buzz’s idea of life was to be always chasing something, — his tail, a shadow,
the corner of the table-cover, or his mistress’s dress. He liked to climb, too, on
to tables, up the legs, into the coal-scuttle, behind the sideboard, and above
all, up the curtains, so as to turn the looped-up part into a hammock, and sleep
there for hours. Anywhere forbidden to a respectable kitten was Buzz’s favo-
rite spot, and especially inside the fender, where the blue tiles at the back
reflected the warmth of the fire, and the brown tiles of the hearth were so bright
that he could see other kittens in them, and play with them, dabbing at them
with his velvet paw.

Buzz had been dragged out from that forbidden ground by his hind leg, and
by the loose skin at the back of his neck, and he had been punished again and
again, but still he would go, and strange to say; he took a fancy to rub himself
up against the upright brass dogs from the tip of his nose to the end of his
tail, and then repeat it on the other side.

But Gran’ma’s pet did not trespass without suffering for it. Both his
whiskers were singed off close, and there was a brown, rough, ill-smelling
bit at the end of his tail where, in turning round, he had swept it amongst the
glowing cinders, giving him so much pain that he uttered a loud ‘‘ Mee-yow!”
and bounded out of the room, looking up at Gran’ma the while as if he believed
that she had served him like that.

In Gran’ma’s very small old-fashioned way, one of her regular duties was
to get papa’s blue cloth fur-lined slippers, and put them
against the fender to warm every night, ready for him
when he came back tired from London ; and no sooner
: gs were those slippers set down to toast, than Buzz, who

  
 

watching all the time with one eye, and carefully packed
himself in a slipper, thrusting his nose well down, draw-
ing his legs right under him, and snoozling up so
compactly that he exactly fitted it, and seemed part of a fur cushion made in
the shape of a shoe.

But Buzz was not allowed to enjoy himself in that fashion for long. No
sooner did Gran’ma catch sight of what he had done than she got up, went to