THE KITTENS AND MISS WINIFRED
The next morning when Miss Winifred came into the kitchen, the kittens
were in the clothes-basket which was under a table, so she did not
see them. She was deciding what she would have for dinner, and at the
sound of the word haddock, which Elvira suggested, the kittens became
interested. It seemed that if one owned a house, all one had to do was
to say what food one wanted. The kittens would have supposed it would
be just the other way.
When the meals were all decided on, Elvira said, ‘I had a present
yesterday from Mrs. Conant.’
‘How nice!’ said Miss Winifred, who was very fond of her young
neighbor. ‘I am sure it was something you wanted.’
‘Yes,’ said Elvira, ‘she could not have given me anything I would have
liked better.’
‘Aren’t you going to show it to me?’
‘You must have three guesses first.’
‘I think it is an apron,’ said Miss Winifred.
‘No, it is something with more warmth in it than an apron.’
‘It must be a sweater.’
‘No, it is warmer still.’
‘It isn’t the right season for a fur neck-piece,’ said Miss Winifred.
‘It is made of fur, though,’ said Elvira, and she picked up Oxford
Gray, Junior, and held him before Miss Winifred’s astonished eyes.
‘Isn’t he the living image of his father, Oxford Gray?’ she asked.
Now, Miss Winifred’s heart softened the moment she saw Oxford Gray,
Junior, but she had determined not to have another cat, so she tried to
look stern.
‘I never did like a tiger kitten with white feet so well as an all
tiger cat. Sam used to look like a miniature tiger in the jungle,’
and at the memory of Sam, Miss Winifred looked sad, for this pet of
Elvira’s had found his way to her heart. ‘He will always have dirty
feet, just as his father had.’ She put on her eye-glasses so as to see
him better. ‘I don’t think you are so very much to look at,’ she said,
hardening her heart.
[Illustration]
Oxford Gray, Junior’s feelings were deeply hurt.
‘I have said I never wanted another cat,’ Miss Winifred added.
‘I never expected he would be yours,’ said Elvira; ‘of course it’s your
house, but you wouldn’t want to be alone in it.’
At this Miss Winifred laughed merrily and her glasses tumbled off.
‘Of course, we’ll have to keep the kitten for two or three days until
he has had a few meals and then we can take him to the Ellen Gifford
Home; they find such good places for cats.’
‘I don’t think they could find a better home than this,’ said Elvira.
‘We might find a home for him where the mistress is just longing for a
cat,’ said Miss Winifred.
‘There is another one,’ said Elvira, and she took the frightened Sally
out of the clothes-basket. ‘You would not have the heart to separate a
brother and sister.’
Sally jumped out of Elvira’s hands and took refuge under a table. If
Miss Winifred could make such unkind remarks about the appearance of
her handsome brother, what would she say when she saw her!
But you never could foresee what Miss Winifred would do. As soon as
she saw thin little Sally with her pitiful expression, her heart was
touched.
‘Poor little thing,’ she said. ‘We must certainly feed her up before
we take her to the Home. We can get Mrs. Conant to run us up there in
her car, just before Elvira and I start for New Hampshire, Miss Harvey,
so that you will not have to be bothered with the care of two little
kittens while we are gone.’
The kittens liked their new home, and they hoped very much that they
would not be sent away, for surely no one could be kinder than Elvira
and Miss Harvey.
They were always running around the kitchen whenever Miss Winifred went
there, and, as she was very near-sighted, she once stepped on Sally’s
tail.
Sally and Oxford Gray, Junior, talked the matter over.
‘Her feet seem always getting in our way,’ said Sally.
‘I am glad she is going to New Hampshire,’ said Oxford Gray, Junior.
‘We’ll have a little peace, but I wish Elvira wasn’t going with her.’
They were glad, on the whole, that no one could understand their
language, although it would be convenient at times to be understood.
Elvira was somewhat troubled by them, but she loved them too well to
think of parting with them, and soon, when they had grown used to their
new home, it would be safe to let them out-of-doors again.
By the time Miss Winifred and Elvira came back from New Hampshire, Miss
Harvey and the kittens had become such firm friends that nothing more
was said about sending them to the Ellen Gifford Home.
[Illustration]