on which she saw that there were some words engraved.

At last came a day when the cat let Mary stroke his fur, now grown much sleeker and covering a plumper body. And from that time it became easier to make friends. Soon Mary held the creature on her lap for a triumphant minute. And the next day she had a chance to examine the engraved collar. On the silver plate was traced,—“Caliban. Home of N. Corliss. Crowfield.”

“He was Aunt Nan’s cat!” cried Mary in excitement. And she ran into the house with the news.

Mrs. Corliss was astonished. “We must make[56] Caliban feel at home again,” she said. “He must have had a terrible fright. But we will help him to forget that before long.”

[56]

In a little while Mary succeeded in coaxing Caliban into the house. And once inside he did not behave like a stranger. For a few moments, indeed, he hesitated, cringing as if in fear of what might happen. But presently he raised his head, sniffed, and, looking neither to right nor left, marched straight toward the library. Mary tiptoed after him, in great excitement. Caliban went directly to the big armchair beside the desk, sniffed a moment at the cushion, then jumped up and curled himself down for a nap, giving a great sigh of contentment. From that moment he accepted partnership with Mary in the room and all its contents.

“Well, I never!” cried Mrs. Corliss, who had followed softly. “The cat is certainly at home. I wonder how he ever happened to go away? I suppose we shall never know.”

And they never did. They made inquiries of the neighbors. But nobody could tell them anything definite about Aunt Nan’s cat. Some persons had, indeed, seen a big black creature stalking about the lawn in the old lady’s time, and had not liked the look of him, as they said. But as[57] Miss Corliss had never had anything to do with her neighbors, so her cat seemed to have followed her example. And when Aunt Nan’s day was over, the cat simply disappeared.

[57]

Caliban must have lived precariously by catching mice and birds. But he never deserted the neighborhood of the old house when the new tenants came to live there; though it took him some time to realize that these were relatives of his mistress whom he might trust.

Once more an inmate of the house, Caliban never wandered again. He adopted Mary as his new 

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