Escape into our all but inaccessible lair

So I got home from school one day (just in time to start homework!) and threw myself into studying. The horses, ever reliable to alert me to the time (specifically their dinnertime), called to me to lure me outside. I have always been pretty helpless against them, you know. I'm such a sucker.
When I walked downstairs, I noticed that it was a little chillier than I imagined it ought to be. No matter. I grabbed the cat food cup and went to go fetch the food itself when I notice a little furry black butt with features surprisingly like a kitty trotting away from me. Now - a point of clarification. I am used to a BIG furry black butt trotting ahead of me; after all, Meshka always has to be in front of us anywhere we go. But a little black kitty butt is usually seen only outside. It took me a moment to piece it all together. I guessed that I had left the door unlatched when I came in from school, and my darling little Charlie kitten followed me (when she was sufficiently sure that I wouldn't notice). I dropped the kitty food and went to check the door. Yep. My suspicions were confirmed. It was an escape into our all but inaccessible lair.
Well, everyone knows that kitties live with the Matsons, but are certainly not allowed in the Matson house. It is a commonly know fact - one which I am positive Charlie is more than aware of. The only thing left to do was to capture the trespasser. And I tried. However, I have gotten the wrong side of Charlie before - namely the side with all the claws - and I didn't really relish the prospect of it happening again. (And, I was laughing pretty good.) What ensued was a game of cat-and-mouse (no pun intended) - I being the cat, and the actually little black fuzzy cat playing the role of mouse. Honestly, I'm sure that if she had been the cat and I the mouse, she would have caught me more quickly than I caught her.
I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but cats have an annoying habit of hiding deep under furniture at the exact moment you would like to catch them. This was no exception. As I bent down to grab my darling little kitty, she made a break for it - quite successfully, actually. She made it upstairs. All four doors were open for her exploration....but which one did she pick? The only one that housed (and will hopefully house again for a time) someone allergic to cats. (Sorry James.)
As I watched her upstairs, I could tell that she was quite pleased with herself. Her gait took on that tourist quality and she literally ambled to her choice of room. I followed of course, wondering how on earth she knew which room she would be least welcome in. By this time, I'd gotten smarter. I quietly shut the door behind me, and when, in her tour of the new room, she came around the corner of the bed, I snatched her up into my arms.
I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't get the claws - instead, she meowed as if commenting on her impression of the room and house in general. When in my arms, she turned almost into a kitty pillow and let me love her as I walked her to the door.
I wonder how long she was in the house before I found her. The dogs were downstairs when she entered - I have no doubt that she was rubbing all over their legs, perhaps even napping with them. Or, the other possibility is that she had only recently succeeded in her escape into the house and her victory was short-lived. Poor kitty.