"How so?" asked the lady.
"'Cause it's nice to know you could be naughty once when you are so good now."
"How do you know I am good now, or that I have improved any since I was a child?" said the lady smilingly.
"I should think you must be good when you are so kind to us," answered Mabel, slipping her hand confidingly into that of her new friend.
"Well, perhaps I may have improved in the way of believing others could be as wise as myself, and in giving up my own will now and then," said the lady; "for that was a severe lesson to me."
"But how did the pussy get out from the barrel?" asked Mamie.
"Oh! I forgot that. Some one of the family had heard her mewing, and let her out, not knowing of any particular reason why she should be kept a prisoner."
Then she bade the children good-by, and leaving them to their play went back to her own friends.
