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cage.”
    “You could turn yourself into a cat and go in the window again. I know a mouse trail to get into Maggie’s apartment,” Nora said.
    “How could we do any cleaning up then?” Tad said. “And if the Health Department people came while we were there, they’d just see two more animals. I’m going next door to warn Maggie. She can work some magic herself.”
    Tad ran out of the room and down the stairs. Nora heard the front door bang as he went out.

Mrs. Cooper was coming upstairs with an armful of clean laundry. She walked into Nora’s room. Nora dived under the pillow, but she wasn’t fast enough. Her mother had seen her.
    Mrs. Cooper put down the laundry very quietly and lifted the pillow. Nora crouched on the bed, afraid to move. Shelooked at her mother with frightened eyes. Mrs. Cooper stood quite still, holding the pillow.
    Nora looked up at her mother. She knew her mother hated mice. Although she was almost certain her mother would never touch a mouse, Nora decided not to take any chances. She ran to the edge of the bed, shut her eyes, and jumped.
    She landed on the hard floor and scuttled under the closet door and through the crack under the baseboard.
    “Tad, Tad!” her mother was calling.
    “What is it?” yelled Tad from downstairs.
    “There’s a mouse up here. See if you can catch it.”
    Tad raced up the stairs. “Where did it go?”
    “Into the closet. I’ll get the broom. Maybe we can chase it out.” Mrs. Cooper went out.
    Tad opened the closet door. “Nora,” he whispered.
    Nora stuck her head out of the crack. “Yes.”
    “Maggie’s not home. I couldn’t warn her. Can you get into her apartment? She keeps an extra door key on the glass tray on her dresser top. If we had her key, we could get in and at least clean the apartment.”
    “Henry’s in there,” said Nora. “He nearly got me before.”
    Mrs. Cooper came back into the room with a broom. “Take those shoes out of the closet, Tad,” she said. She took a look at a high-heeled shoe with a sparkly buckle. “Where did that come from?”
    “It was Maggie’s,” said Tad.
    “Mrs. Brown, Tad.” Mrs. Cooper forgot about the mouse and started to examine the contents of the closet. “Are you sure Mrs. Brown gave Nora thesethings? They look too good to give away.”
    Nora knew that her mother didn’t like her to take things from people. She had always told her to say, “No, thank you,” when anyone offered her anything.
    “Where is Nora, Tad?” Mrs. Cooper was saying.
    Nora ran off down the mouse trail away from the closet.

Nora wandered along in the half darkness. When she came to a crack or a hole in the wall, she put her head to the opening and looked out. One hole gave a fine view of a mousetrap set under the radiator in the bathroom of Nora’s house. Another one opened into the hall in Maggie’s apartment. Nora could see Lew the lizardsleeping in a doorway. She wondered if mice talked the same language as lizards. She put her mouth to the crack. “Lew,” she said as loudly as she could. “Lew, wake up!”

    The lizard opened his brown eyes and stuck out his forked tongue. “Nora,” he said, “where are you?”
    “Behind the crack in the wall,” said Nora. “Lew, I want you to help me.”
    The big lizard walked over to the crack. “How did you get in there, Nora? It’s not big enough for you.”
    “I turned into a mouse,” said Nora. “Lew, can you get the door key off Maggie’s dresser?”
    “I don’t think so,” said the lizard. “That’s more of a job for Henry.”
    “See if you can get him to do it, Lew. It’s terribly important. Tell him it’s to help Maggie.”
    “All right,” said Lew. He went downthe hall to the bedroom. In a very short time he came back with the key. “No trouble at all,” he said. “That cat is such a show-off.”
    “Push it through the crack, Lew,” said Nora. “And thank you, thank you.”
    Nora grabbed the door key in her teeth and started back the