CHAPTER XIV
THE COUNTRY
When Mr. Ladd saw the little white head peep out, he put his head back and laughed.
“I pity the rats in your barn now, Mrs. Alder,” he shouted.
Mrs. Alder frowned at first, but when she looked at Clematis, and saw her anxious face, she smiled.
“What on earth made you bring that cat way up here?” she asked.
“She’s my own cat. I was afraid to leave her at the Home all alone. Would you like to leave your cat alone, where people might throw it away while you were gone?”
Just then a tall man with a gray beard walked up.
“Never mind, Mary,” he said. “We have plenty of milk in the dairy, and plenty of rats in the barn.”
By this time Clematis had Deborah safe in her arms, and Mr. Alder led the way to the house, while Mr. Ladd drove off, laughing as he went.