“Well,” said Dorothy, “something scratched dreadfully.”
So grandma went up to the attic to see about it. “Where was the noise?” she asked.
BRIGHT-EYES AT HOME.
They pointed to the dark place behind the big chimneys. Grandma went up and opened a door and out walked—a wolf! no; Towser, the old cat! Blanche and Dorothy sometimes have another visitor in the attic. It is a big rat. He lives in the barn. He has a road underground to the house cellar. Then he comes up to the attic through the wall.
The cousins never know when to expect him. He comes in without knocking. The first thing they know there he is looking at them with bright eyes.
They have named him Bright-eyes. They feed him with cake and cheese. He is very tame. Grandma says she never heard of such a thing as feeding a rat. She says Bright-eyes eats her hens’ eggs. He steals them out of the nests.