farmer green's wife threw away pan after pan of milk, because she knew somebody had been stealing cream off the top of them. at least, she told farmer green to feed the milk to the pigs, because she wasn't going to make butter of any cream that had been tampered with by goodness knew whom or what. and old dog spot said that feeding good creamy milk to the pigs was just the same as throwing it away. he made that remark to miss kitty cat, adding that it was a shame that somebody was stealing cream and declaring that he hoped to catch the thief.
miss kitty cat made no reply whatsoever.
"don't you hope i'll catch the guilty party?" spot asked her.
"please don't speak to me!" miss kitty cat exclaimed impatiently. "i don't enjoy your talk; and you may as well know it."
"very well!" said spot. "but when i catch him i'll let you know."
"she's jealous," spot thought. "she knows i'm a good watch dog. and she can't bear the idea of my catching a thief."
it was hard, usually, to tell how miss kitty cat felt about anything. she was a great one for keeping her opinions to herself. it seemed as if she wanted to be let alone by every one except farmer green's family.
having boasted about catching thep. 43 cream thief, old dog spot began to watch the buttery very carefully. search as he would, he couldn't find a chink anywhere that was big enough even for a mouse to squeeze through.
one day he happened to catch a glimpse of something moving under the roof of the shed next the buttery. to his amazement he saw miss kitty cat slip through an old stove-pipe hole that pierced the great chimney which led down into the buttery, where there was an ancient fireplace which hadn't been used for years and years. miss kitty cat crept along a tiebeam and hid herself in a pile of odds and ends that somebody had stowed high up under the roof and left there to gather dust and cob-webs.
"ah, ha!" said spot under his breath. "this is interesting."
when miss kitty cat visited the kitchen a little later there wasn't a speck of dirt on her coat. and her face was spotless. no one would have guessed that she had ever made her way through an old chimney.
old dog spot said nothing to her then. but he chuckled to himself. he had a plan that pleased him hugely.
all this happened on a morning. and late that afternoon when miss kitty cat wasn't anywhere to be seen, and farmer green's wife opened the buttery door to get a pitcher of cream for supper, spot suddenly began to bark in the shed. he scrambled up a stepladder that leaned against the wall and stood on the top of it while he pawed the air frantically, as if he were trying to fly.
the noise brought mrs. green hurriedly out of the buttery. and she was just in time to see miss kitty cat peer out of the old stove-pipe hole, with a creamy look about her mouth.
well, the cat was out of the bag at last. or perhaps it would be more exact to say that miss kitty was out of the buttery. anyhow, it was very plain to mrs. green that she had been in the buttery only a moment before, lapping thick cream off a pan of milk. and she hadn't had time to wash her face.
after that farmer green stopped up the stove-pipe hole. and soon miss kitty's appetite for milk returned. when mrs. green set out her saucer of milk for her miss kitty lapped it up greedily—and even licked the saucer clean.
old dog spot watched her with a grin.
"i let you know when i caught the cream thief, just as i promised you i would," he jeered.p. 46
miss kitty wiped her face very carefully before replying.
"don't boast!" she said. "it's a disagreeable thing to do.... besides, i knew—long before you did—who was taking mrs. green's cream."
