“That night my mistress’ mother said, ‘We cannot have David killing so many birds. Something must be done with him. I will get a boy to do something with him early in the morning.’ I knew what she said. I did not know by the way people know. I knew by the cat-way of knowing, and not by the people-way. All present at this famous party know how cats know what people say. I understood what my mistress said, but I kept still under a table, and when nobody was looking I crept under the chairs out into the back room, and opened two doors and ran away, far away, and for a long time I lived the dreadful life of a cat without a home.
“One day a man invited me to go home with him. He keeps a store. There are herring and eggs in the store. I have lived there quite a long time. I want to go back to my dear mistress, but I am afraid they will get a boy to do something with me. I like to suck eggs, though as my master keeps a stick I do not take any except the broken ones he gives me. When I tease for herring he gives me a piece. I watch people and if they touch anything that belongs to my master I lay my paw on them and speak.
“Scarcely had David finished when out popped two gray little kittens, twins, both named Kittywinks, saying:
“‘We are the Kittywinkses, and we’ve come to this famous party.’
“Lady Yellow-paw waved her paw and said: ‘One Kittywinks at a time, my dears.’
The Good Child-Baby.
“One Kittywinks then said: ‘David talked about a child-baby. Call bad. Child-baby not bad. We’ve got a child-baby. He does not step on us. He does not sit down on us. He does not squelch us. He does not hurt. He touches us softly. He would never tie strings on our ears. He poors us, and strokes us, and lets us sit on chairs and sofas with him, and crawl all over him, and play with his curls, and play with his beads, and play with his playthings. He likes us, only he does not like to have us kiss him with our noses, but with our mouths, but we don’t know how to kiss with our mouths, and we have to kiss with our noses.’
“And the Kittywinkses capered back to their places.
“All present at Lady Yellow-paw’s famous party were pleased with the Kittywinkses, and no wonder, for they were a merry pair of twins, and not much like the sour faced ones, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, called in the story, Dum and Dee.”