“I’ll just run across the cellar and then you can see for yourself what a nice tail I have,” said the vain Nibble.
That was all the cat wanted. She caught Nibble and that was the last that was seen of him.
When Rosebud had finished this story she danced all around on her dainty toes. Then she glided slowly forward and backward, making low courtesies to the little boy. After a while her steps became faster and faster. She shook her pretty curls and beckoned to Ray, and before he knew it he was dancing too.
Rosebud took his hand, and together they danced all around the room.
The strangest part of it was that they danced over chairs and tables as lightly as if they were not there. O it was delightful, and Ray felt that if there had been a window open they would have danced right out and up to the blue sky. At last they stopped a minute, and just then there was a step in the hall and somebody opened the door.
It was Ray’s dear mamma who had missed her little boy and had come to find him.
“O mamma!” exclaimed Ray, “I want you to meet my little playmate.”
Ray turned to find Rosebud, but she was not there. Then he looked behind the chairs and in every corner but he could not find her.
He was just beginning to feel very much disappointed when he happened to looked on his papa’s desk. There was Rosebud in her old place on the picture standing with her bunch of roses and smiling at him.