“Whatever have you girls been up to?” she demanded, pleasantly enough, but evincing much curiosity.
“Why, Mrs. Adams,” said Agnes, eagerly. “Don’t you see? We’ve adopted a family.”
“Humph! A family? Not those young’uns of Petunia Blossom? I see Uncle Rufus back at the old Corner House, and I expect the whole family will be there next.”
“Why,” said Agnes, somewhat surprised by this speech, “these are only cats.”
“Cats?”
“Yes’m. Cats. That is, a cat and four kittens.”
Mrs. Adams started down the path to see. The girls stopped before her gate. At that moment there was a whoop, a scrambling in the road, and a boy and a bulldog appeared from around the nearest corner.
With unerring instinct the bulldog, true to his nature, came charging for the cat he saw in Agnes’ arms.
Poor old Sandy-face came to life in a hurry. From a condition of calm repose, she leaped in a second of time to wild and vociferous activity. Matters were on a war basis instantly.
She uttered a single “Yow!” and leaped straight out of Agnes’ arms to the bole of a maple tree standing just inside Mrs. Adams’ fence. She forgot her kittens and everything else, and scrambled up the tree for dear life, while the bulldog, tongue hanging out, and his little red eyes all alight with excitement, leaped against the fence as though he, too, would scramble over it and up the tree.