Might, unnoticed, help herself.

Then she seized a heavy slice,
Leaving in the loaf a cleft
Wider than a dozen mice,
Feasted there all night, had left.

Stepping backward, Fanny slid
On the table's polished face:--
Down she came, with dish and lid,
Silver--glass--and china vase!

In, from every room they rushed,
Father--mother--servants--all,
Thinking all the closet crushed,
By the racket and the fall.

'Mid the uproar of the house,
Fanny, in her shame and fright,
Wished herself indeed a mouse,
But to run and hide from sight.

Yet was she to learn how vain,
Poor and worthless, is a wish.
Wishing could not lull her pain,
Hide her shame, nor mend a dish.

There she lay, but could not speak;
For a tooth had made a pass
Through her lip; and to her cheek