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Chinese Kitten

<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX THE KITTEN’S STORY</h2> When they reached home, both Lucy and Dora talked a great deal. They had to tell Father and Mother all the things they had seen and done in Boston. Father was especially interested in the marionettes and asked many questions about them. Some of the questions the children could not answer, so Father said that the next time they went to the Public Library, he wished they would ask Miss Perkins for a book on marionettes. Dora said she would do so. Uncle Dan liked to hear about the church with the beautiful picture windows and the wonderful music. He said that once he had been there to a choir festival. [134] After a time Father went to see Mr. Baker, and Uncle Dan took his hat and went out through the kitchen. Dora ran after him. “Are you going to see Olive?” she asked. “Please tell her that I love my new ribbons. And tell her I have been in Boston and that is why I haven’t said ‘thank you’ for them.” Uncle Dan said that he would tell Olive. Dora went back into the parlor and sat on Mother’s lap. “I must tell you about my Chinese kitten,” she said. “Oh, Mother, Aunt Margaret liked the piece of birthday cake so much! She said to tell you she wished she could make cake like that. She did not have any of her own, Mother.” “Next year we will make her a birthday cake,” said Mrs. Merrill, and she looked pleased. “What about the Chinese kitten?” “First of all,” Dora began, “Aunt Margaret[135] showed me the star she named it for. Last night it was very bright, and I can find it now for Uncle Dan. At least, I think I can. And then she told me about the kitten. “When Aunt Margaret’s grandfather,” Dora went on, “was about as old as Uncle Dan, he went on a long voyage on a ship that sailed to China. When he came home, he brought with him a set of ivory chess-men. Do you know what they are, Mother?” “Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Chess is a game, played on a board with squares marked off,—a checker-board, like yours,—and a set of counters. You and Lucy have counters for your game of parchesi.” “Yes,” said Dora, “but those are flat and round. These chess-men were different. They stood up tall, and the pieces which counted most,—the kings and queens and knights and bishops—were cats, big cats, made[136] out of ivory. And the littler pieces, the pawns, were kittens. Half the pieces were white and half were blue. There were eight blue kittens and eight white ones.” “They must have been very pretty,” Mrs. Merrill agreed. “What became of them?’ “Some were lost,” said Dora, “and Aunt Margaret thinks her boy cousins took the cats when they visited their grandmother. So many chess-men were gone that people couldn’t play the game any more. The grandmother thought, since the boys had taken the cats, she would divide the kittens between the little girl cousins. “She gave Aunt Margaret four kittens,” Dora went on, “two blue ones and two white.” Dora stopped. Lucy was calling Timothy at the back door. Dora looked to see that Lucy was beyond hearing. Even then, she whispered the rest. [137] “Aunt Margaret told me that she is going to give Lucy a white kitten for Christmas. You will keep it a secret, won’t you, Mother?” “I will try to,” said Mrs. Merrill. “But what with your pincushion and now this white kitten, and its being only September, I think we are getting Lucy’s Christmas started early.” “I know she will like it,” said Dora happily. “I told Aunt Margaret so. In the beginning the kittens didn’t have anything around their necks, but Aunt Margaret took Vega to a jeweler, and had him put on a silver collar and ring, so I could wear her on my chain. Lucy’s white kitten will have a collar, too. And that is why Vega sits down so hard and flat, Mother, so as not to tip over on the chess-board.” Next, Dora told Mother about the babies,[138] and how one had cried real tears until Miss Perrin comforted it. Lucy came back and they both talked of the little black baby. “Would you have minded if we had brought it home?” asked Lucy. “I should prefer a white one,” said Mother. “But this was more unusual,” explained Lucy. “It would be in our family,” agreed Mrs. Merrill. Then she said they must go to bed early, because, after two such exciting days, she knew they were tired. Quite soon after Dora’s birthday, Jack Frost took out his paints and colored all the leaves. Some were yellow and some red, mixed with green. Some, he turned a faded brown. All over Westmore, the leaves began to flutter down and carpet the streets with bright spots of color. Then one night, Jack took a look at the[139] flower-beds. Evidently he didn’t approve of people’s raising flowers in gardens; he cared only for things which grew wild. For the flowers did not become bright colors; they turned black and shriveled. Uncle Dan cut down the tall hollyhocks which had been so pretty all summer. Many of them towered far above his head. Lucy and Dora dragged the stalks to a place where they could be burned. Some of the seeds went into their hair and some went down their necks. And hollyhock seeds tickle when they slip inside one’s clothes. Mother asked Uncle Dan to trim the rose-bushes on either side of the back door. She said she was tired of having them snatch out her hairpins every time she tried to hang up clothes. The children thought Mother was joking, but Uncle Dan cut off one long sprout and on it, there really sat a hairpin. Dora[140] took it straight to Mother who put it in her hair and said she was glad to see it again. Dora read “Doctor Dolittle” through five times. Then she looked once more at every picture and returned the book to the library, just as clean and nice as when she took it. She told Miss Perkins that she liked that story best of any book she had ever read. Miss Perkins said she liked it herself. That was the reason she chose it for Dora to take to the beach. Dora remembered to ask for the book for Father about the marionettes and she told Miss Perkins about seeing them in Boston. She was pleased to know that Miss Perkins had seen those very plays, the rabbit play and the one about Jack. Miss Perkins found two books for Father to read about them. One was a big book and she thought it was rather heavy for Dora to carry, but Dora thought she could manage it. Once[141] or twice on the way home, she would rest it on a wall. The weather grew so cool that even the big girls played games at recess. It was pleasanter to run about than to stand still and let the wind blow right through one. To stand still, it was necessary to get into a corner where the sun shone brightly and the wind couldn’t come. Miss Leger always dismissed her children before Miss Scott’s room came out, and Dora would wait for Lucy. One afternoon, Miss Scott’s class filed out, walking two and two across the school grounds to the sidewalk, where they broke ranks and began to skip and prance. Dora was waiting, but Lucy was not in the file. “Where is Lucy?” she asked Dorothy Barrows. “Miss Scott kept her after school,” said Dorothy. “Lucy has been very naughty, so[142] naughty that we are none of us to tell what she did.” Dora felt sorry to hear this, but she could not believe that Lucy had been more than a little naughty. The other children all went home, but Dora waited in the cold wind, trying to keep warm by jumping up and down. She kept looking at the schoolhouse to see when Lucy came. It grew later and later and Dora was afraid that Mother would worry, but she could not leave Lucy to walk home alone. Lucy would need to be comforted when she came out. After a long time Lucy did come, and her face was swollen with crying and her eyes were red. In her hand she held a note. When Dora saw the note, she knew that Lucy had been really naughty. Anybody who was given a note to take home had done something shocking. [143] Dora ran to meet Lucy and kissed her. Then she held her arm and did not say a word. Lucy began to cry again and walked slower and slower. Dora was cold and wanted to walk fast. “What is the matter?” Dora asked when they had gone about a block. “Was Miss Scott cross to you?” Lucy nodded and choked. She tried to speak but only cried the harder. When they reached the brown cottage, Mother was watching for them. She came and opened the door. “Where have you been?” she asked. “You are very late and you know I want you always to come straight home after school.” Then Mother saw how Lucy looked. Dora began to cry also, just because she was so sorry for Lucy. Mother took them into the warm kitchen and[144] asked what the matter was, but Dora did not know, and Lucy could not tell. She sobbed and held out the note. Mother read it. Lucy cried harder than ever and so did Dora. For a minute Mother did not say anything at all. Then she told Dora to stop crying and told Lucy to go and wash her face. When Lucy came out of the bathroom, Mother sat down in the rocker and took her in her arms. She told Dora to go into the parlor and work on the cushion for Olive. Dora sewed until it began to grow dark, which was soon, because they had been so late coming from school. Mother never allowed her or Lucy to light the lamp on the table, so she looked out of the window and wished she could do something for Lucy. After a time, she heard Lucy going up to their room and then Mother opened the door into the parlor. Dora ran to her at once. [145] “Please tell me, Mother,” she asked, with her arms about Mother’s waist. Mrs. Merrill sat down and took Dora on her lap. “Lucy has done something very wrong,” she said. “She didn’t know how to do a problem in number-work, so she kept her book open under her desk and copied from it.” “But she is very sorry,” said Dora, and the tears came into her eyes. “Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “She is so sorry that we will not say anything more to her about it. But you will never do it, will you, Dora?” “No, Mother,” said Dora earnestly. “But I don’t need to, you see. I like number-work and the problems are easy for me.” “I mean in anything,” said Mrs. Merrill. “It never does any good to cheat in this world, and it hurts only the one who does it.” [146] “I won’t, in anything,” said Dora. “May I go and tell Lucy that I love her and that we aren’t going to say anything about it?” “Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “I told Lucy to lie down for a little while because she has cried so much that her head aches. It is her turn to help me get supper to-night, but if you want to, you may do it for her.” Dora was glad to do this. She ran up-stairs and kissed Lucy and whispered in her ear, and then half-way down the stairs, she ran back and took the Chinese kitten out of the pink box where Arcturus used to live. She tucked it into Lucy’s hand. “Vega is very comforting to hold,” she said. “When you come down to supper, please put her back in her pink box.” Just then, Lucy didn’t think she should want any supper, but Dora and the kitten made her feel better, to say nothing of the talk with[147] Mother. When Dora called, she put Vega away and came down. Mother had told Father and Uncle Dan not to speak of Lucy’s red eyes, and they did not. Only, after supper, Father took her on his knee and talked to her a little while. That night, after she and Dora were in bed, Lucy rolled over and cuddled close to Dora. “I am never going to cheat again,” she said. “I don’t like Miss Scott and I never shall like her, but it is because of Father and Mother. They care so much about our doing what is right, that we shall just have to do it.” “Yes,” said Dora, snuggling into Lucy’s arms, “we mustn’t be naughty when they care so much.” <hr /> [148] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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