“‘Well, what am I, pray?’ Fred rubbed his eyes; there she stood, looking almost exactly as she had a minute before; yet that was certainly a fuzzy gray tail resting on the grass, and these were certainly his kitten’s paws and round eyes. She was purring softly.
“‘Now, Mischief,’ he cried out eagerly, ‘you’ve been playing tricks, and I’m going to stroke you the wrong way, to pay up for it.’
“The kitten stopped purring. ‘Don’t,’ she said, sharply; ‘you’ll crumple my dress! There,’ she added, in a gentler tone, seeing his dismay, ‘you didn’t mean any harm. Be a good boy and I’ll let you take a walk with me.’ She threw away her fan, and held out her little gloved hand to him, as she spoke, for she was a lady again beyond all doubt. Fred took her hand with some hesitation, and off they started together. As they walked along, side by side, Mischief kept up such a steady, soft little flow of talk that Fred could not tell it from purring half the time. At last they reached the foot of one of the high mountains, and Mischief began to scramble up, pulling him along as she did so.
“‘But I—never—was here before,’ he tried to say, as his little guide leaped from rock to stump, catching them gracefully, and swinging him up after her. Mischief never stopped, however, until they reached the very tip-top. Then they sat down to rest on a mossy rock. The view was glorious; Fred could see his house, nestling in the valley far, far below him, and looking no bigger than a pin in a green pincushion.
“‘Speaking of pins,’ said Mischief, as if she read his thoughts, ‘how many pine needles are there in a bunch? I suppose you learned that at school.’
“‘No,’ said Fred, ‘we had how many shillings there are in a guinea, and how many rods make a furlong, and—’ Here Mischief appeared so intensely interested that he was quite confused, and stopped short.
“‘Go on,’ she cried, impatiently; ‘how do you make your fur long?’
“Fred was dreadfully puzzled. ‘Excuse me,’ he said, ‘I don’t think you quite understood me.’
“‘Well, never mind. How about the needles?’
“‘I never learned that table.’