What
was her astonishment, therefore, on finding the kitchen she had left in a
state of perfect order and cleanliness, in a condition that resembled the
preparation for an annual house-cleaning.
"Lord, bless us!" she exclaimed, looking round; "What on yarth has
happened? I raly b'lieve dere's bin a fire in dis 'ere house, and I never
knowed a word of it. Why I might have bin burnt up in my own bed! Dere's de
lamp broke--carpet burnt--pots and skillets hauled out of the closet--ebery
ting turned upside down; why dere's bin a reg'lar 'sturbance down here,"
she continued, as she surveyed the apartment.
At this juncture, she espied Tom, who sat licking his paws before the fire,
and presenting so altered an appearance, from the events of the night, as
to have rendered him unrecognizable even by his best friend.
"Strange cat in de house! Making himself quite at home at dat," said aunt
Rachel, indignantly. Her wrath, already much excited, rose to the boiling
point at what she deemed a most daring invasion of her domain. She,
therefore, without ceremony, raised a broom, with which she belaboured the
astonished Tom, who ran frantically from under one chair to another till
he ensconced himself in a small closet, from which he pertinaciously
refused to be dislodged.
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