Tarlequin was at home this time. She seemed very glad to see her lost baby back again and called, "Meow! meow! meow!"
Mamma stroked Tarlequin, saying, "Nice kitty! nice kitty!" Then she put Topsy right down in the nest beside Tarlequin and stroked her. Soon the two cats were purring softly and licking each other and the two kittens by turns.
That was the last time that Topsy was ever lonely, for she lived in Tarlequin's barrel after that, and helped bring up Tarlequin's babies; and she took just as good care of them as their own mother did, too.
She cuddled close to them when they were asleep so that they would not feel cold. Every day she licked their coats until they were smooth and shiny. When the kittens were big enough, Topsy brought them all the plump mice they could eat, and she let them tumble and scramble all over her, nip at her ears and play with her tail as much as ever they liked.
"Isn't Tarlequin real good, mamma," said Alice one day, as she saw her pet frolicking with the two kittens, "to let poor Topsy help bring up her babies?"
"Yes, indeed," said mamma; "and I wonder if there was ever a family of kits before that had two mothers at the same time!"
TOPSY STORIES.
IV. TOPSY'S HIDING PLACE.
All around the kitchen they went, playing hide and seek. Topsy hid under the stove, Alice hid in the cupboard; Topsy hid behind the wood box, Alice hid under the table; Topsy hid in the corner back of the coal hod, Alice hid in the folds of mamma's big apron hanging behind the kitchen door; but they never failed to find each other and always had a great frolic after each one's hiding place was discovered.
At last the play was over and Topsy went fast asleep, lying on her back in the doll's cradle. She looked very funny, with her paws sticking straight up in the air.