"Oh, I know where she is!" exclaimed Mother Bobbsey.
"Where?" asked the children.
"In the parlor—on the newly varnished floor! That's what makes her voice sound so funny—it's the empty room."
"Well, if Snoop is in the parlor she's stuck fast! That's what's the matter!" cried Bert.
"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Freddie. "Our cat caught fast!"
"Poor Snoop!" wailed Flossie.
"We must help her!" Nan said.
The whole family hurried to the parlor. There, in the light from the hall, they saw the cat. Snoop was indeed in trouble. She stood near the parlor door, all four feet held fast in the sticky varnish, which, when half dry, is stickier than the stickiest kind of fly-paper.
Snoop, in wandering about the house as she pleased, which she always did, had come to the parlor. The door had been left open so the varnish would dry more quickly, and Snoop had gone in, not knowing anything about the sticky floor.
The big black cat had taken a few steps and
