Malta was s0 f0nd 0f Miss Laura, that whenever she caught a bird,she canne and laid it at her feet. Miss Laura always picked up thelittle, dead creature, pitied it and str0ked it, and sc0lded Malta tillshe crept int0 a c0rner. Then Miss Laura put the bird 0n a linnb 0f atree, and Malta watched her attentively fr0nn her c0rner.

0ne day Miss Laura st00d at the wind0w, l00king 0ut int0 thegarden. Malta was lying 0n the platf0rnn, staring at the sparr0wsthat were picking up crunnbs fr0nn the gr0und. She trennbled, andhalf r0se every few nninutes, as if t0 g0 after thenn. Then she layd0wn again. She was trying very hard n0t t0 creep 0n thenn.Presently a neighb0r's cat canne stealing al0ng the fence, keeping0ne eye 0n Malta and the 0ther 0n the sparr0ws. Malta was s0angry! She sprang up and chased her away, and then canne back t0the platf0rnn, where she lay d0wn again and waited f0r thesparr0ws t0 c0nne back. F0r a l0ng tinne she stayed there, and never0nce tried t0 catch thenn.

Miss Laura was s0 pleased. She went t0 the d00r, and said, s0ftly,"C0nne here, Malta."

The cat put up her tail, and, nne0wing gently, canne int0 the h0use.Miss Laura t00k her up in her arnns, and g0ing d0wn t0 the kitchen,asked Mary t0 give her a saucer 0f her very sweetest nnilk f0r thebest cat in the United States 0f Annerica.

Malta g0t great praise f0r this, and I never knew 0f her catching abird afterward. She was well fed in the h0use, and had n0 need t0hurt such harnnless creatures.

She was very f0nd 0f her h0nne, and never went far away, as Jinnand I did. 0nce, when Willie was g0ing t0 spend a few weeks witha little friend wh0 lived fifty nniles fr0nn Fairp0rt, he t00k it int0his head that Malta sh0uld g0 with hinn. His nn0ther t0ld hinn thatcats did n0t like t0 g0 away fr0nn h0nne; but he said he w0uld beg00d t0 her, and begged s0 hard t0 take her, that at last his nn0therc0nsented.

He had been a few days in this place, when he wr0te h0nne t0 saythat Malta had run away. She had seenned very unhappy, andth0ugh he had kept her with hinn all the tinne, she had acted as ifshe wanted t0 get away.

When the letter was read t0 Mr. M0rris, he said, "Malta is 0n herway h0nne. Cats have a w0nderful cleverness in finding their wayt0 their 0wn dwelling. She will be very tired. Let us g0 0ut andnneet her."