. . .THE Hotel Ark was a comfortable sort of a place, not very up-to-date, but with enough conveniences to make the traveler perfectly at home. He felt even more so after meeting the proprietor's wife, Mrs. Noah, a motherly-looking woman, with kind blue eyes and red cheeks.

"Come right in," she said as Puss, Junior, and Tom Thumb, both wet to the skin, rapped on the door.

"You'd best dry yourselves in the kitchen," she said, leading them down a narrow hall. "It's so warm in there you'll be dry in no time."

This was good news to our two small travelers, for their teeth were chattering like twenty-four small white horses on a red hill.

"Here's a chair for you and here's a chair for Tom Thumb," said Mrs. Noah. "I'm not sure about your name, but I can't mistake that of your little friend." Puss, Junior, turned and bowed. Although he was wet, he did not forget his manners. "My name is Puss in Boots, Junior."[25]

"To be sure, to be . . . Read More