SALOME TO THE RESCUE
I don’t know what would have happened if no one had heard them, for the
little kitchen kittens were very busy with the milk, and even if they
had wanted to, they wouldn’t have known how to help. But a mother’s ears
are sharp, and before they had mewed ten times Salome appeared at a
trot, asking anxiously, “What have those tiresome children of mine done
now?” She soon saw the danger they had got into. If they had been more
of babies, she would have climbed up after them and brought them down in
her mouth, but they were too big and heavy for that. All she could do was
to sit at the bottom of the curtain and give them courage by mewing and
telling them what to do. It was funny how quickly their confidence came
back. Directly the kittens knew their own mother was there watching them
and ready to help, they forgot to be afraid and in a few seconds they had
scratched their way down the curtain and were safely on the ground.
Salome didn’t make a fuss or punish them for being so naughty and wild;
all she did was to give their faces a lick and tell them not to do it
again or they might hurt their claws or have a tumble.
The little kitchen cats looked on and they thought what a good mother
Salome was, for not even their Jane could have been kinder. They had to
own, too, that she was rather beautiful and so quiet and self-possessed.
Besides, she behaved so well to them and instead of chasing them away
because they were strangers, like Jane would have done, she took no
notice of them at all. She did not even seem to mind when Pussy pretended
to be her daughter and sat close up to her.
“We were wrong,” said Pet to Tompkins later. “I think your mother is an
old dear.” And although Tompkins thought it might have been expressed
differently, he was glad to hear it.