Miss Harvey opened the kitchen door that led into the passageway and then the outside door. Her sympathies were divided between Sally and the mouse. Poor tiny creature! It looked so frightened, and, after all, it probably enjoyed its life as much as Sally liked hers. But if that wretched Oxford got the mouse, Miss Harvey felt there was no justice to be looked for in this world. When she opened the door, she saw the mouse scurrying down the steps, and Sally and Oxford following after each other, tumbling down the steps in hot pursuit. It was as exciting as any race she had ever seen. Sally for once lost her temper as the mouse disappeared from view. She did not say all she thought. She said only a part of it, but Oxford was so astonished by what she did say that she seemed a different Sally in his eyes. After she had spoken her vehement words, she returned to the house. Oxford felt taken down for the moment, but he soon rose to the occasion. ‘It was a sort of an accident your catching that mouse,’ he said. ‘Anybody can catch a mouse if it goes just where they are.’ Sally was already beginning to cool down. ‘Not everybody,’ she said. ‘Miss Harvey has told me more than once that she never caught a mouse in her life.’ [Illustration] CHAPTER XIV SALLY AND SPOT ‘The Conants have got a dog,’ Sally said to Oxford one day. ‘Isn’t that awful?’ ‘Are you sure they’ve got one?’ ‘Yes, I heard Miss Harvey say so, and I’ve seen him.’ ‘You’ve seen him?’ ‘Yes, he was skipping about in our clothes-yard this morning. Miss Harvey wouldn’t let me out. She said it was too dangerous. I was afraid you’d meet him.’ ‘What does he look like?’ ‘Miss Harvey told Elvira he was a wire-haired terrier. He’s white with a black spot. He’s not so terribly big, but it seems he hates cats and loves to chase them. Miss Harvey thinks he would kill us if he got the chance.’ ‘I’m quite sure he wouldn’t kill me,’ said Oxford. ‘I don’t suppose he would, but he might kill me.’ ‘Not if I am around, Sally. You had better never go out without me.’ Oxford and Sally were sitting in the kitchen windows as they were talking, and they could look across at the windows in the Conant house. Suddenly Sally gave a hiss. ‘What is the matter?’ asked Elvira. ‘He’s there; it’s himself,’ said Sally, but Elvira could not understand. Oxford understood, and he looked across at the Conant house. There, in one of the windows, was the monster who would like to kill cats. He was not so terrible to look at. The cats gazed at him fascinated. He looked back at them with a fixed gaze. Elvira heard some more hisses and going to the window she saw Spot. ‘Bless your hearts, he can’t get you,’ said Elvira. ‘There are two sets of window-panes between you and Spot.’ It gave a new thrill to life having Spot living next door, but it was most inconvenient, for Oxford and Sally were always kept in when Spot was taking his exercise.