CHAPTER IV

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.

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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.

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