"Mitz" began to cry piteously. "Mieu--mieu--mi-e-e," he cried, and all
little Hannah's trotting only made him worse. At that moment "Mitz" was
wrapped in a pillow-case, while his head was buried in Hannah's little
shawl. His ears were pulled down, and his promising tail was all in a
heap, and his resplendent moustache was crushed. Therefore was it a
wonder that Mitz howled most dolefully? It is not necessary to say that
Mitz was a kitten.
Mitz's mother was sitting in a corner of the fire-place, with tail
neatly curled about her paws. Three of Mitz's brothers and sisters were
lost somewhere in the shadow about her, and two others the children had
put to bed.
It was a queer old room in an old German house; a room large and dim,
with two great windows full of diamond-shaped panes, and on the
opposite side a huge chimney with a tall, narrow mantel-shelf and a
tiled hearth, on which stood two brass griffins, shiny and ferocious. In
the depths in the fire-place, behind the griffins, there Mitz was
sobbing. I say sobbing because the children were playing "house," and
Mitz was supposed to be the baby. What a fine play-house this big
fire-place was in summer! It had in turn figured as Aladdin's cave and a
school-house; a brigand ambush, and a dwelling with modern improvements.
But now it was growing dark in the big, bare room, and you had to look
closely into the back of the hearth to see the two little figures--one
trotting the baby, and the other rocking the doll's cradle in which two
of Mitz's sisters were tied with cord, for their good, of course. But
Mitz's piteous cries raised echoes.
"Mieu, mieu!" cried Mitz, trying to claw something under the pillow
case. "Mieu, mieu!" chimed in Mitz's sisters, while little Hannah
trotted desperately, and the doll's cradle was rocked as if by a small
tempest.
[Illustration: HE WOULDN'T EAT HIS BREAD AND MILK.]
"It's no use," said little Hannah, in great perplexity; "all people's
children arn't always bad! Mitz--you wicked Mitz!" And she shook that
badly-behaved child. "He's been crying ever since we began to play. He
wouldn't eat his bread and milk, though I tied on his best new bib. Oh,
dear me, Mrs. Liseke, how noisy your children are! Suppose," said little
Hannah, vainly endeavoring to pacify the indignant Mitz, "suppose, Mrs.
Liseke, we take the children out for a walk?"
Out of the hearth crept Hannah, with Mitz hugged to her heart, and her
short, round figure all the rounder for an ancient shawl and a venerable
cap perched on the top of her plump, rosy face. Hannah had just passed
the brass griffins, when some one burst into the room. There was a
vision of two long stockings with a hole in one knee, a faded velveteen
suit, a pair of brass-tipped boots, a bright patch in the seat of the
short breeches, and a look of triumph on a round face with a turn-up
nose, while a grin, extending from ear to ear, discovered a loss of
several front teeth in the big mouth.
"Max, how you frightened me!" cried Hannah; then, "oh, Maxy, what's the
matter?" Mitz was forgotten; he gave a leap, shawl and pillow-case, and
before Hannah could prevent, had crept out of his bandages and was
standing a free cat, with arched back and a defiant tail. By this time
Mrs. Liseke had come out of the fire-place with her two youngest in her
arms. She was elegantly dressed in a bed-sheet, which trailed behind her
and was gracefully tied under her chin. Mitz's mother followed,
stretching all-fours luxuriously.
No, Max wouldn't tell. He plunged two black hands in his breeches'
pockets and made up faces and danced a wild war dance, while Mitz and
family fled into various corners.
"Why don't you slap him?" pouted Liseke.
"No," little Hannah said, wisely. "He likes cookies." Coaxingly: "Maxy
dear, won't you tell?"
"No, you bet I won't! you're nothing but girls."
"Is it a surprise, Max?" Hannah suggested, anxiously.
"Won't tell yer," contemplating his brass-tipped toes.
"Maxy, I'll give you a big cookey if you'll tell."
"You nasty thing, I don't want a cookey."
"Maxy: two? three--four--five--six--there! now you'll tell?"
"Give 'em first," said this practical boy, apparently conquered.
Six noble cookies were counted into his hand.
"Now I won't tell yer at all. It's a surprise! Father said I wasn't to
tell," he cried, scornfully, with his mouth full.
"Oh, Haneke, papa's going to surprise us! Now I know what it is!" Liseke
whispered excitedly "It is a piano, and perhaps--perhaps a stool. Try
and find out from Max."
"Maxy, dear," Hannah said, imploringly, "is it covered with plush?"
"Why, how do you know?" Max cried, unguardedly, as he was finishing his
sixth cookey.
"I knew it, I knew it," Liseke gasped, wildly.
"Does it make a noise if, well, say, if you bang on it?" Hannah cried,
with a beating heart.
"Why--why--yes," Max acknowledged, wrathfully, with a futile kick at
Mitz's mother, who was purring about his legs. "There, you mean thing,
you're always trying to find out something! Just you wait till I tell
yer anything more!" he cried, and slam-banged himself out of the room,
with his bosom full of suppressed injuries.
"He was mad because we guessed," Liseke cried, joyfully.
"A piano!" Hannah gasped, as the door went to with a crash.
"A stool," Liseke added; then, "Let's tell mamma!"
That dear, gentle mother, sitting by the dim window trying to mend by
the last flicker of daylight! She looked up lovingly as the door flew
open.
"Mamma," gasped Hannah, "papa's got a surprise for us."
"Max said so," chimed in the other. "We've guessed, mother dear."
"It's a piano."
"And--and a stool."
[Illustration: MAX KNOWS OF A SURPRISE.]
"He said it'ud make a noise; and was covered with plush."
"O, dear children, surely papa wouldn't buy you a piano. He can not
afford it," and two kind hands were stretched out to the children.
"Oh, yes it is," the two cried hopefully.
"You know, mamma, papa's always promised us a surprise, and he's never
done it yet!" Hannah cried, and laid her round cheek against the
delicate, pale face.
There was no use arguing; the children were convinced. They were sure of
the piano.
"There, mamma, didn't we tell you so," they cried, as Max came in,
mysterious and exasperating.
"Father says the surprise will be ready for you to-morrow afternoon at
three o'clock in the sitting room," he cried, and was gone, leaving a
momentary vision of a bright patch in the seat of his breeches.
"Poor child," thought the little mother, regretfully; "he is all in
rags--I wish I had some money!" with a patient sigh.
"There, mamma, we told you so! It'll stand by the window in the corner
of the sitting-room," two excited voices cried, and the next moment the
sitting-room was invaded by two small figures who looked at the empty
corner by the window with delicious expectancy; and so the day went
slowly by.
In another room the little mother looked at her husband wistfully.
"Karl," she began, timidly, "have you really prepared a surprise for the
children? You won't disappoint them?"
"Betty, don't say a word! Wait! Did I ever disappoint you?"
Betty turned away with a half-suppressed sigh, while papa Karl strode up
and down the room grandly, virtuously, with a good deal of injured
innocence in his face.