"Dear Santa: I want a new papa and a new kitten. Conny says kittens are easy enuff to get, but papas are much harder and very spensive. but I dont want just any kitten please, cause my dear Jollity was black and all the kittens this year are grey. if you have any black ones to spare please bring me one and a papa with a red ribbon around its neck. dont go to grandpas at Fort wurth where we were last year cause we aint there now we are at 610 west 12 street.
"Elinor Temple."
As the doctor read the signature a red flush mounted to his forehead, and he cast a confused look around him; then he slipped the letter into his pocket, took two or three turns up and down the room, and returned to his examination of the rest of the mail.
The last two letters were pitiful appeals from homes of want and misery; timid little requests, full of childish faith, which made the doctor shake his head and blink his eyes, frowning the while. These letters he also put aside, and then paced the floor in deep thought.
CHAPTER II
It was high noon when he turned toward home. He had forgotten all about Kittyboy, but when the confident little beastie came rubbing up against him, purring softly, the doctor smiled, as if a sudden thought had struck him, and stooping down, he rubbed Kittyboy's head; after which performance the artful little creature rolled over on his back, and turned his gold-colored eyes upon the doctor, inviting a frolic; then up and away he scudded, with arched back and curved tail, the very embodiment of a witch's familiar.