The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat | Page 9

any of the bird people. Indeed, she had been so pleasant that Rusty Wren began to think that Miss Kitty was a much kinder creature than he had always supposed.
"Miss Kitty's very agreeable," Rusty Wren remarked to his wife. "Did you notice how sweetly she spoke of our children?"
"Huh!" said Mrs. Wren. "She may fool you; but she can't fool me. She's a mealy-mouthed animal, if ever I met one."
"I don't see how you can say that about Miss Kitty Cat," Rusty replied. "She doesn't eat meal."
"I suppose you'll be saying next that she doesn't eat birds!" his wife exclaimed.
"I fear you've been listening to gossip," Rusty ventured. "If Miss Kitty Cat comes back I hope you'll be cordial to her."
He could have bitten his tongue a moment later for saying that, because Mrs. Wren began to scold him. And he flew away and left her as soon as he could think of a good excuse.
He went over to the orchard, where he flitted about for some time. And at last he met Jolly Robin, who appeared most doleful.
"What's the matter?" Rusty Wren asked. "You look terribly upset."
"So I am," Jolly Robin admitted. "We had a caller yesterday."
"Well, well!" said Rusty Wren. "That's nothing to be glum about."
"You'd think so if you were I. It was Miss Kitty Cat. And when she left she took one of our nestlings with her."
"Perhaps she only borrowed it," Rusty Wren suggested. "Maybe she'll return it to-day."
"No!" Jolly Robin told him. "If she comes back again it will only be to take another one."
Suddenly Rusty Wren remembered that he had urged his wife to be cordial to Miss Kitty Cat the next time she called at the cherry tree where they lived.
"I must hurry home!" he cried. "I must warn my wife."
"But your youngsters are safe," Jolly Robin assured him. "Miss Kitty Cat can't reach them inside the tin can where you built your nest."
"That's true," Rusty Wren admitted. "But there's my wife! Miss Kitty might harm her, if she caught her unawares." So he started for home at top speed.

XIII
AN UNWELCOME GUEST
AS he neared his home in the cherry tree, Rusty Wren saw a fearsome sight. Miss Kitty Cat was crouched right on top of the tin syrup can which Johnnie Green had nailed to the tree. Inside that can was the Wren family's nest. And inside the nest were some brand-new youngsters, only two days out of their shells.
It was no wonder that when Rusty Wren came hack from the orchard and saw such a sight he began to shriek.
"What are you doing on my roof?" he shrilled.
Miss Kitty Cat looked up calmly and watched him as he hopped about in the top of the tree above her head.
[Illustration: Miss Kitty Cat Looked Calmly at Rusty Wren.]
"I've come to make another call on your wife," she explained.
Then a muffled voice chirped, "She's been here a long time and I can't get her to go away."
The moment he heard that, Rusty Wren felt better. It was his wife's voice and it meant that she was safe. To be sure, Rusty knew that she was a prisoner in her own house; for it was plain that she dared not leave it so long as Miss Kitty Cat stayed on the roof, ready to grab Mrs. Wren the moment she stepped out of her doorway.
"Your wife is very shy," Miss Kitty remarked to Rusty Wren with a sly smile. "I've been hoping to get more acquainted with her. That's why I climbed up and sat on your roof. When people are shy and don't invite me inside their houses I believe in making myself at home outside, while I wait for them to appear."
From her doorway Mrs. Wren called to her husband, "Don't let her deceive you with her pretty talk! Remember what I told you! She's mealy-mouthed.... If you had seen her trying to reach her paw through the door you'd know how dangerous she is."
"There!" said Miss Kitty Cat with a sigh. "People never seem to understand my ways. I was only trying to shake hands!"
"With her claws!" cried the muffled voice of Rusty Wren's wife. "Ugh! She's a wicked creature if ever there was one."
"Go away!" Rusty Wren scolded. "Get off my roof! Get out of my cherry tree!"
By this time feathered neighbors of the Wren family were arriving from all directions. They didn't hesitate to call Miss Kitty Cat names. And some of them even darted quite near her, as if they meant to peck her eyes out.
Miss Kitty began to have a worried look.
"Goodness! Where do they all live?" she asked herself. "I had no idea there were so many birds around here. There's better hunting than I supposed."
Try as they would, the birds couldn't budge Miss Kitty Cat from