Then Fido pushed the door open and came into the nursery wagging his tail.

He walked over to the table and sniffed, in hopes Marcella had given the dolls real food and that some would still be left.

“Where’s Raggedy Ann?” Fido asked, when he had satisfied himself that there was no food.

“Mistress took Raggedy Ann and went somewhere!” all the dolls answered in chorus.

“I’ve found something I must tell Raggedy Ann about!” said Fido, as he scratched his ear.

“Is it a secret?” asked the penny dolls.

“Secret nothing,” replied Fido, “It’s kittens!”

“How lovely!” cried all the dolls, “Really live kittens?”

“Really live kittens!” replied Fido, “Three little tiny ones, out in the barn!”

“Oh, I wish Raggedy Ann was here!” cried the French doll.  “She would know what to do about it!”

[Illustration]

“That’s why I wanted to see her,” said Fido, as he thumped his tail on the floor, “I did not know there were any kittens and I went into the barn to hunt for mice and the first thing I knew Mamma Cat came bouncing right at me with her eyes looking green!  I tell you I hurried out of there!”

[Illustration]

“How did you know there were any kittens then?” asked Uncle Clem.

“I waited around the barn until Mamma Cat went up to the house and then I slipped into the barn again, for I knew there must be something inside or she would not have jumped at me that way!  We are always very friendly, you know.”  Fido continued.  “And what was my surprise to find three tiny little kittens in an old basket, ’way back in a dark corner!”

“Go get them, Fido, and bring them up so we can see them!” said the tin soldier.

“Not me!” said Fido, “If I had a suit of tin clothes on like you have I might do it, but you know cats can scratch very hard if they want to!”

“We will tell Raggedy when she comes in!” said the French doll, and then Fido went out to play with a neighbor dog.

So when Raggedy Ann had been returned to the nursery the dolls could hardly wait until Marcella had put on their nighties and left them for the night.

Then they told Raggedy Ann all about the kittens.

Raggedy Ann jumped from her bed and ran over to Fido’s basket; he wasn’t there.

Then Raggedy suggested that all the dolls go out to the barn and see the kittens.  This they did easily, for the window was open and it was but a short jump to the ground.

They found Fido out near the barn watching a hole.

“I was afraid something might disturb them,” he said, “for Mamma Cat went away about an hour ago.”

All the dolls, with Raggedy Ann in the lead, crawled through the hole and ran to the basket.

[Illustration]

Just as Raggedy Ann started to pick up one of the kittens there was a lot of howling and yelping and Fido came bounding through the hole with Mamma Cat behind him.  When Mamma Cat caught up with Fido he would yelp.