"He isn't like grandad then. Grandad wants England to beat."
"No, he isn't much like grandad. And yet dear grandad has been very good to us. Of course he was desperately angry that your father should go for a soldier. Oh, if he comes home safe!"
"Dilly," said gran'mere, pausing at the door with a piece of yellow pumpkin in her hand which she was peeling, "you must come away now. You have talked enough to your mother and she must rest."
The child slipped down and kissed the pale cheek again, then came out in the living-room and looked around. The cat sat washing her face and at every dab the paw went nearer her ear.
"You shan't, Judy! We don't want rain, do we, grandfather?" She caught up the cat in her arms, but not before pussy had washed over one ear.
Grandfather laughed. "Well, it does make it rain when she washes over her ear," the little girl said with a very positive air. "It did on Sunday."
"And I guess pussy washes over her ear every day in the week."
"It's saved up then for the big storms;" with a triumphant air.
"Get the board and let's have a game. You're so smart I feel it in my bones that you will beat."
She put Judy down very gently, but the cat switched her tail around and wondered why. She brought out the board that was marked like "Tit tat toe," and a box that she rattled laughingly. Pussy came when they had adjusted it on their knees and put two white paws on it, preparatory to a jump.