"We—we didn't mean—it—we didn't. They—they—oh—poor little things—all cramped up—the—the cages were smaller—than themselves—we—we—we—"
Then Miss Kezia said something that was not at all like her usual method of speech. In a voice thin and rasped with irritation and much eloquence, she observed:—
"Apparently you think you are a pig! Eileen! Eileen! I command you to come here!"
Nell, a struggling puppy in her arms, stopped short. She was breathless, untidy, and hilarious.
"We've got them all now, except three of the mice," she added.
The jet ornament in Miss Kezia's bonnet quivered spasmodically.
"Perhaps you will condescend to explain now how it happens that you have turned my house into a menagerie," she said.
Nell sat down on the lowest stair and kissed the puppy's ugly little head.
"We are going to send them all to Kilbrannan, Aunt Kezia. Duckie, stay still then! You see—"
"You cannot send the missing mice away! They will overrun my house."