SCHOOL SUPPLIES
“Norah wanted a cat!” repeated Meg unbelievingly. “But why? I thought she hated cats, Sam.”
“Mice,” said Sam. “Traps no good. But Annabel Lee is clearing ’em out, all right. She’s a fine mouser. And the prettiest manners! You put the dish down and watch her and Fill-Up eat together.”
Meg found it rather trying that Sam would insist on calling the dog she had named Philip by such an impolite title, but Sam always had his way about such things. Meg put down the dish with Philip’s breakfast in it, and he and the cat ate together as though they had been friends all their lives.
“Meg, Meg!” called Dot, running toward them. “Miss Florence is here, and Mother says you must come in right away and try on. Oh, whose cat?”
“That’s Annabel Lee,” said Meg. “She’s our 18 cat. Sam got her ’cause mice were in the kitchen. I’m going to take her in and show her to Miss Florence.”
“Let me hold her,” begged Dot. “You have to try on. Look, Twaddles, bet you didn’t know we had a cat.”
Twaddles stopped short on his kiddie-car.
“Don’t tell Norah,” he whispered cautiously. “Take her in the front door and she won’t know. Did Mother say we could have a cat?”
Bobby laughed.