"Won't the pampered beasts eat them?" he asked, when he saw that the biscuits had not been touched.
"I have not tried them yet," said Molly, "but if Mamma has made up her mind that they are to have filleted sole, she is not likely to let them eat cheap biscuits."
Annie's eyes were full of unshed tears as she asked Arthur if he would go to the fishmonger's for her.
"But—but—you cannot afford to buy sole at two shillings a pound to feed cats, even if they are Persians and Mamma's."
"Now, Arthur, you don't know anything about housekeeping, and so you must leave me to manage all that. Mamma is very poorly this evening, and has had no tea, but she thinks she could eat a little bit of sole if I cooked it for her myself, so do go to the fishmonger's for me and try to get what she fancies."
Molly went with him to the street door. "If it was for Mamma herself, I should not mind so much," she whispered, "but I shall do those cats a mischief one of these days, I am afraid."
"Make haste, Arthur," said his elder sister at the same moment.
And Arthur ran down the little garden path, his mind filled with a new thought that he almost hated himself for harbouring, and yet it would press itself upon his attention, try as he would to put it away from him.
[CHAPTER II]
A START IN LIFE