"Children, I have something to propose to you about the kittens. You know I can't let you keep them, because it is against my rule, which I should not have made unless it had been necessary; but, if you like to find them two good homes, I will allow you to give them away this time." "Oh auntie!" exclaimed Maisie, clapping her hands, "how lovely!" "How long may we have to look out?" asked Dennis. "The kittens must be sent away from here this day three weeks," said Aunt Katharine solemnly; "and remember, children, I said `two _good_ homes,' so I trust you to take trouble to find them. It would be really kinder to drown them at once, than to send them where they might be starved or ill-treated." Two good homes! It was indeed a serious responsibility, and their aunt had said the words so earnestly, that the children were both much impressed by them. Maisie in particular, in the midst of her rejoicing that the kittens were saved, felt quite sobered by the burden resting upon her. "How ever shall we find two good homes?" she said to Dennis as they went up-stairs. But Dennis never looked at the troublesome side of life, if he could avoid it. "It'll be jolly to keep all three of them for three weeks, won't it?" he said. "How pleased Madam would be if she knew!" "We must get up very early to-morrow, and go and tell her," said Maisie. "It matters most to tell Tom," said Dennis; "because if he finds them in the loft, he'll drown them straight off in a bucket." The horror of this suggestion, and the future of the two kittens if they escaped this danger, kept Maisie awake for a long while that night. She slept in a tiny room opening out of Aunt Katharine's, and she knew how dreadfully late it must be, when she heard her aunt moving about, and saw the light of her candle underneath the door. After that, however, she soon went to sleep, with the kittens, their homes, and Tom the stable-boy, all jumbled up together in her head. CHAPTER TWO. HAUGHTON PARK.