Publisher's Synopsis
One pleasant summer morning Alphonzo was amusing himself by swinging on a gate in front of his mother's house. His cousin Malleville, who was then about eight years old, was sitting upon a stone outside of the gate, by the roadside, in a sort of corner that was formed between the wall and a great tree which was growing there. Malleville was employed in telling her kitten a story. The kitten was sitting near Malleville, upon a higher stone. Malleville was leaning upon this stone, looking the kitten in the face. The kitten was looking down, but she seemed to be listening very attentively. "Now, Kitty," said Malleville, "if you will sit still and hark, I will tell you a story, -a story about a mouse. I read it in a book. Once there was a mouse, and he was white, and he lived in a cage. No I forgot, -there were three mice. I'll begin again. "Once there was a boy, and he had three white mice, and he kept them in a cage."
