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"MEW-MEW!" said two lit-tle wee black kit-tens. Grace stooped down, and
picked one of them up. "Mew!" it said, and then tried to play with the
neck-lace she had on. The oth-er kit-ten did not like this at all. She
pulled at Grace's dress with her small black paw. So then she was tak-en
up too, and both soon snug-gled down in Grace's lap, and went fast
a-sleep. But where was the mam-ma cat all this time? She had gone back
to the barn, where all her kit-tens were born, to bring an-oth-er one to
the house, to show her mis-tress what a fine fam-i-ly she had. She had
hard work to get in; for John, the man, had closed the doors. She
walked a-round the barn, and at the back she found a win-dow o-pen. Ned,
the don-key, had his head out of it; but she scram-bled in be-side him,
and took up an-oth-er kit-ten in her mouth, and ran back to the house
a-gain.
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When she reached it, she found that Jane had closed the front-door. She
mewed as loud as she could; but it was some time be-fore an-y one heard
her, and o-pened it. But at last she reached her mis-tress safe-ly with
her third child. She her-self was white, and so was one of the kit-tens.
The other two were as black as coals.
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