“Well, darling,” said her aunt, “we must hope it has got a good home still. Very likely some kind person found it, and took care of it.”
“Do you really think so?” said Maisie, rubbing her eyes and looking up with a gleam of hope; “but perhaps,” she added sorrowfully, “an unkind person met it.”
Aunt Katharine smiled and kissed her little niece.
“Unfortunately, there are unkind people in the world, dear Maisie,” she said; “but I don’t think there are many who would hurt a little harmless kitten. So we must take all the comfort we can, and perhaps some day we shall find it again.”
Maisie did her best to look on the bright side of the misfortune, but she could not help thinking of all the dangers the grey kitten was likely to meet. There were so many dogs in Upwell, dogs like Snip and Snap who delighted in chasing cats. There were carts and carriages too, and many things which the kitten was far too young to understand. Its ignorance of the world would lead it into all sorts of perils, and there was little chance that it would ever be heard of again. She tried to break the bad news as gently as possible to Madam, who seemed to listen with indifference, and presently fell off to sleep, as though there were no such thing as lost kittens in the world. Dennis also did not show very much concern; but he was just now so busy with other matters that perhaps this was not surprising.
Chapter Seven.
Found!
Meanwhile, what had become of the grey kitten? To learn this we must go back to the time when it began its life in the tinsmith’s house at Upwell under the care of old Sally’s Eliza. It was kept in the kitchen at first, but by degrees, as it got used to the place, it was allowed to run about where it liked, and its favourite room was the little back parlour opening into the shop. Now the shop was forbidden ground, and it was always chased back if it tried to enter: so perhaps it was for this very reason that it seemed to have fixed its mind on doing it, and one afternoon the chance came. Its mistress was busy behind the counter serving some customers: the parlour door was open; no one noticed the grey kitten, and it marched boldly in.