What the house-cat said was this,—
“I don’t want my kittens playing with those rough barn-kittens; it will spoil their manners.” But Posy didn’t understand her; and it wouldn’t have made any difference if she had, for she was very fond of the barn-cat and approved highly of the way she brought up her family. So Posy carried out the kittens, followed closely by the house-cat.
Posy put the kittens on the ground beside the little tiger-kittens, and then went back to her seat on the door-step beside Tom to watch them play.
The little tiger-kittens stood still a minute and watched the new-comers curiously. Then they flew at each other, and clawed each other, and rolled over together. The barn-cat looked on, very proud of her children’s strength; but the house-cat had a very scornful expression on her countenance, as she scowled at the little tiger-kittens.
“Come back at once!” she called to her little Maltese kittens. “I don’t wish you to associate with those common barn-kittens.”
“Oh, do let us stay; it’s such fun!” they answered piteously.
“Let ’em have a little frolic; it’ll do ’em good,” said the barn-cat. “They’ll get sick lying in that hot kitchen.”
“I’m very particular about their manners,” said the house-cat; “I don’t want them to learn common ways.”
“My kittens won’t teach ’em anything to hurt their manners,” answered the barn-cat; “let ’em stay and have a good time. Come, my dears,” she said to the little Maltese kittens in a motherly tone, “you play just as much as you want to.”
The house-cat looked anxiously around. None of her stylish acquaintances were in sight, and it did seem a pity to cheat her darlings out of a romp in this fresh air; so she didn’t say they shouldn’t stay, and the kittens interpreted her silence as a consent. So they grew very cheerful, and watched the tiger-kittens chase each other and claw and roll over, till at last they became bold, and one of them went up to one of the tiger-kittens and gave him a gentle tap with his paw, exactly as Posy often did to Tom when she called out “Tag!”