Kitty did not get overboard. She drank a cup of city milk—poor thing!—at bed time, beside the bed Julia and Ellen made for her in the storeroom, where, cook said, there were plenty of mice.
CHAPTER VII.
AT HOME.
Julia loved the kitten, and the kitten loved Julia. Once more the halls rang with the little girl’s merry laugh.
Puss learned some smart tricks.
Mr. Cary showed Julia how she might teach the kitten to jump through her arms.
Clasping her little hands, and holding her arms out like a hoop, she would kneel on the floor. Puss would step over her hands, held so low. Then Julia held her arms up a little; and soon the kitten could hop through this pretty hoop. By-and-by Julia could stand up, and the kitty would come when she called “Puss! puss!” and jump through her arms, which was a pretty sight.
Ellen, too, grew fond of puss, and was very kind to her. She would play with Ellen’s spools of thread, and roll about her ball of mending-cotton, while the good nurse sat sewing with Julia beside her.
So this simple kitten, one of the humblest of God’s creatures, helped to make poor motherless Julia a happy child.
