“To be continued,” remarked Doll Splinter,”So please continue”.

“My pleasure” said the spindly cat and bowed.

At first Milly found her new home overwhelming. She could smell that Other Cats had lived there and she expected them to return. She needed to mark her territory which caused problems for the woman who liked her house to be clean.

The cat didn’t like her head touched and hid under chairs and beds but gradually she became calmer and eventually ventured on to the woman’s lap, as long as she kept very still and quiet.

Then finally she went into the garden,sniffing daintily and and tiptoeing across the grass. The first few times she came back,eager for food, but then one day she didn’t. She was lost again.

 The woman called, waiting to hear a miaow or a little chirrup but there was no sound at all.

At that time the woman lived near a college which had pleasant enough grounds to walk in and it was there that she went with a friend who wanted to help. Together they walked hopefully up and down, calling”Milly!” whenever they passed a bush or clump of flowers. Surprisingly, cats kept popping their quizzical heads out, looking interested and then not.It made the woman and her friend laugh.It seemed that any cat was happy to be called Milly.

Despondent the woman went home and that night she lay in bed thinking how sad it was to be rescued and then lost again.

In the early hours of the morning the little black and white cat came running up the stairs,calling all the way. She knew where she lived.

At last!