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Henry confessed what he had done. “You know,” said Mr. Huggins thoughtfully, “I miss that little black rascal. The house seems empty without him.” Mr. Huggins reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and took out a dollar bill.
    â€œDad!” exclaimed Henry, and grabbedthe dollar bill. “But what will Mom say?”
    â€œI don’t know,” admitted Mr. Huggins, “but while you were gone she did say that someday we might have mice.”
    â€œBoy, oh, boy!” said Henry, and gulped his milk. There was no time to waste. Somebody might be buying Nosy that very minute. “But what about Ribsy?” he took time to ask. “He won’t like it.”
    â€œWe’ll just have to train him to stay away from Nosy,” said Mr. Huggins. “It won’t be easy, but we can do it in time.” He pulled a handful of change out of his pocket and handed Henry a quarter. “And while you are at it,” he said, “you’d better buy a catnip mouse.”
    Henry, who stood up on the pedals of his bicycle all the way to the pet shop, was panting when he arrived. Sure enough, there was Nosy, asleep in the window, and in a few minutes Henry was on his way home again with Nosy zipped safely inside his jacket anda catnip mouse in his pocket. He finally had a kitten of his own!
    But there was one thing that worried Henry as he pedaled toward Klickitat Street. That was Ribsy. He had had things pretty much his own way around the Hugginses’ house for such a long time that it was going to be hard for him to get used to a new member of the family. Why, he might even be so upset he would run away. Dogs sometimes did things like that. Well, Henry couldn’t let Ribsy do that. He made up his mind to be extra nice to him. He would give him bigger servings of meat, and scratch him behind the ears, and maybe he could persuade his mother to let Ribsy sleep on the foot of his bed instead of in the basement. Henry felt sorrier and sorrier for Ribsy. It was going to be tough, but he would just have to make the best of it.
    By the time Henry reached home, he was not nearly as cheerful as he had been whenhe paid for Nosy. He parked his bicycle in the garage and walked up the back steps, where Ribsy was waiting. “Hi, old fellow.” Henry spoke gently, and scratched Ribsy behind the left ear. Ribsy wagged his tail and followed Henry into the house. In the kitchen Henry unzipped his jacket and lifted Nosy out. “Steady, boy,” he said to Ribsy. “Take it easy. Everything is going to be all right.” Henry set Nosy on the floor, far enough from Ribsy so that he could snatch the kitten up before Ribsy reached him.
    To Henry’s surprise, Ribsy did not growl. Keeping his eye on Nosy, Henry petted Ribsy, just to make sure his dog did not feel neglected. Ribsy paid no attention. Instead, he gave a short, cheerful bark, wagged his tail, and trotted across the linoleum to Nosy, who had arched his back and puffed up his tail. While Henry watched, Ribsy sniffed at Nosy. The kitten stood his ground. Then, toHenry’s amazement, Ribsy flopped down on the floor beside Nosy and began to wash the kitten with his long pink tongue. And the funny part of it was, Nosy did not mind at all.

    â€œWell, how do you like that?” exclaimed Henry, as Nosy’s fur became more and more damp. “You like Nosy!”
    Ribsy stopped licking long enough to look up at Henry and thump his tail on the floor. Then he went on washing his kitten.

3
Henry’s Advertisements
    T he more Henry thought about doing something important, the more he wanted a paper route of his own. Every afternoon after school he rode his bicycle slowly past Mr. Capper’s garage on Knott Street, where the Journal truck dropped bundles of newspapers for about a dozen boys to deliver. He listened to the boys laughing and talking while they untied theirbundles and counted and