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 carefully about, and then I will let you know if you dare to venture out.” So father-mouse crept softly through the pantry. He tiptoed down the long hall and into the living-room, but the old cat was nowhere to be seen.

For you must know, children, the house people were afraid that the cat might brush against the tree and break something, so poor Mrs. Puss had been banished to the coal-bin and was spending her Christmas Eve down in the cellar all alone; and she was howling and yowling because she was so angry.

When the father-mouse could not find the cat, he came back to the pantry and called out the glad tidings, “The coast is clear, come out, children.”

Then all the Velvet family came scrambling down from their hole in the wall, their