“Milk!” cried Nugget, scornfully. He was not nearly as respectful in his manner since he had played with Scamp. “Milk comes in cans, mamma; not in big, hair-covered horny things, with legs!”
“That is a cow, Nugget; you will see to-night whether you know more than your mother. Cows give milk, just as pumps give water,” said Bidelia, severely.
“Then I’m glad Ban-Ban brought her,” said Puttel, licking her lips thirstily. “I’m so tired not having milk I ’most want to go back to our old place.”
“Poor Puttel!” said Bidelia, feeling of the kitten’s nose. “You are feverish. Never mind, my babies; to-night you shall have a long, creamy, blessed drink, and I’m going to cook a fish for Ban-Ban’s supper for bringing the cow here. What a genius Ban-Ban is! Nugget, run around to Mr. Schwartz Katz’s and ask him to let you have his best fish. Tell him Ban-Ban has brought the cow to Purrington, and that the fish is for him.”
“A long, creamy, blessed drink.”
“He knows it,” growled Nugget, flattening his ears sulkily, for he did not like to go on errands since Scamp had told him his mother took too much of his play-time for her service. It was far from true, for Bidelia was a most indulgent little mother.
“Nugget, go at once, and lift your ears. I will not allow you to flatten your ears when I ask you to do something for me. Oh, dear,” sighed Bidelia. “How dreadful it is to have kittens fall in with bad comrades! Nugget has always been such a good boy! And now that Scamp is changing him for the worse every day!”
“Don’t worry, mamma,” purred dear little Dolly, putting her forelegs around Bidelia’s neck. “Nugget isn’t bad, like Scamp; he only thinks it’s smart to spit and flatten his ears. He thinks that makes him catly, and a soldier like Wutz-Butz.”
Bidelia licked Dolly tenderly. “I only wish he were not so weak as to want to copy bad kittens. As though it were not much more grown-up to be strong, and good, and obedient! If he wants to be catly why doesn’t he imitate Doctor Traddles, or sweet Kiku-san, our gentle white friend, or clever Ban-Ban, or even Wutz-Butz, if he does fight sometimes? It is so silly to swagger!” And Bidelia sighed again, feeling that she was too young to manage such a great yellow kitten as Nugget was growing to be.