Then came the scream, and mama with it, both through the open door.
“Dick! mercy! come quick! scat! scat!”
Not only papa came, but the two grandmamas and one of the great-grandmothers, all four looking scared.
“They were right on the foot-rail of her crib—the three tiger-cats,” gasped mama, “and one had jumped down on her! I don’t much think they’ve scratched her, but they might have—just think of it, Dick!”
Papa Dick smiled. “Awful!” said he. “No doubt, Nan, they came in purposely to eat your baby up!”
The grandmothers smiled too. “Nan! as if our cats would hurt Mary Ellen!” said the youngest grandmother.
“Well, you can all laugh,” said Mama Nan, “but I think six cats are much too many in a house where there’s a baby.”
THE TIGER CATS.
“Six cats is rather many,” laughed papa, “but then there are six grandmothers, too, you know, to keep them off.”