The ladies said the suit was Patter’s to keep forever, and it would belong to Bunny and Sue just as the dog did.
Whether it was the news that Patter would “take tickets” at the church fair or whether it was some other attraction, I do not know, but it is true that a large crowd made its way toward the opera house the night the fair opened.
At the door, in his new suit, holding in his mouth a basket for the tickets, sat Patter. Near him were Bunny and Sue to make sure that Patter would not drop the basket.
Person after person came to the fair, looked at the dog holding the basket, and then, with a laugh, dropped in his admission ticket.
The basket was nearly full and Bunny was thinking of emptying it when Sue gave a sudden cry and pointed to something coming in one of the opened windows. For the part of the opera house where the church fair was held was on the ground floor. Shows and entertainments took place upstairs.
“Look! Look!” cried Sue. “There’s a black kitten with white feet.”
“It doesn’t make much difference what kind of feet she has,” said Bunny quickly. “But if that’s a kitten she’d better not let Patter see her. He doesn’t like cats.”
As Bunny spoke this word “cats,” Patter pricked up his ears as if he knew what was said. Then he looked around and saw the pussy on the window sill, inside the church-fair hall. In another moment Patter dropped the basket of tickets, which scattered all about, and the dog, with a loud bark, raced across the room to get the kitten.
CHAPTER XII
WHITEFEET’S TRICK
When Patter barked the kitten made a big mistake. Instead of jumping off the window sill to the ground outside, for the window was open, the little black cat with white feet leaped down inside the room where the fair was being held.