“Ah, but we had to buy something in the way of cats for the home. We should never have bought a kitten but for that. We shouldn’t have dreamt of doing such a thing.”
“I should buy kittens if I were rich and hadn’t got any,” said Erebus in a tone of decision.
“You would, would you? That’s just what I wanted to know: girls will buy kittens,” said the Terror in a tone of satisfaction. “Well, we’ll sell these.”
“But we can’t empty the home,” said Erebus.
“We wouldn’t. We’d buy fresh ones, just able to lap, for threepence each, and sell these at a shilling. We might make nearly a sovereign that way.”
“So we should—a whole sovereign!” cried Erebus; then she added in a somewhat envious tone: “You do think of things.”
“I have to. Where should we be, if I didn’t?” said the Terror.
“But who are we going to sell them to? Everybody round here has cats.”
“Yes, they have,” said the Terror, frowning again. “Well, we shall have to sell them somewhere else.”
They put the sleepy kittens back in their hutches, and walked back to the house, pondering. The Terror collected the books for his morning’s work slowly, still thoughtful.