I peeped in at the kitchen window, and there sat my Pussy, in her old place before the fire, looking just as when I left her--the neatest, whitest, softest, and gentlest of creatures. _She_ was not surprised to see me. She winked and blinked a little, as if she was dreaming of me at that moment, and was afraid to open her eyes more than half-way, lest the dream should vanish; but at last she opened them altogether, and the dream turned to reality. Then, had we not a happy meeting! There was much to tell on both sides before we could properly discuss the grand object of my coming, and our time was a good deal taken up by a constant succession of visitors; not dogs or cats, as might have been expected, but boys and girls, men and women, friends of the servants, all pouring in to see _me_. From the time that the gardener and his wife had satisfied themselves that my master was not coming with me, they seemed to consider my arrival stranger than ever, and to think it necessary to inform every body of the circumstances,--though I should certainly have supposed there would be more wonder in seeing two persons than one. Pussy did not approve of so much company, as she always disliked to be stared at; I, being of a less retiring turn of mind, was perhaps rather flattered by the notice; but, by the time evening came, even I was glad to have the house quiet. Then we lay by the fire, and explained all our feelings to each other. I described to my friend how unhappy I had been without her, and how amidst all the pleasures of London I had languished for her company, till I could bear my loneliness no longer; and I entreated her, for my sake, to relinquish all her present habits, and to try a new life and a new home. She heard me with much sympathy, and owned that she too had been unhappy; and that, notwithstanding the placid exterior which she had thought it right to keep up, she had missed me quite as much as I missed her. But she did not at once, as I hoped, agree eagerly to my proposal of accompanying me to London. She hesitated. The journey seemed an arduous undertaking. What strange dogs she might meet! what showers of rain! what obstacles of all kinds, that had never suggested themselves to me!