Bidelia licked around the kitten’s face, and Nugget put both paws around her neck.
“I’m dreadful sorry, mamma,” he whispered, so sincerely that he forgot to speak like Tommy Traddles’s best grammar scholar.
“Yes, dear, but I’m only glad just now that you are safe,” Bidelia whispered back.
“Scamp coaxed me to go fishing with him; I didn’t want to, but he said I was ’fraid-cat, so I went,” Nugget continued. “He was ugly after he got me here, and I mewed, so he pushed me into the water, and ran away. I kept up, and kept swimming—I don’t see how I swam; nobody taught me.”
“Oh, everybody knows how to swim without teaching, everybody except human beings,” said Bidelia. “Go on, dearest.”
“I swam, but I could not get to shore,” sobbed Nugget. “Not for the longest, longest time! And I felt so weak, and I was so frightened, and it was so dark, and there were you and Dolly and Puttel all safe at home, and I thought I was never going to see you—” Nugget broke off, sobbing with all his might.
“There, there, dear, darling little Nugget, don’t talk about it, don’t tell me any more now!” said Bidelia, soothing him by the softest kisses and pats. “I know all about it. At last you did get to the bank, and crawled up, and lay there dying, when you heard the good Purrers singing to you, and gathered strength for just one tiny mew; just enough, dear, to save you. And now you’re going to get well fast, and we are going to take you home where Mrs. Brindle has warm milk for you, and never, never again are you going to be a naughty kitten, and disobey your little mother. Isn’t that it, my poor little Nugget?”
Nugget cuddled down close into Bidelia’s soft neck. “That’s right, mamma,” he said.
Bidelia gave a few quick purrs of happiness. It really was worth Nugget’s suffering and her own misery to have her kitten freed for ever from the bad influence of Scamp. She turned to her friends with a bright smile. “How shall we get this poor, naughty kitten home, dear Purrers? He is far too weak to walk.”
“We’ll make a cat’s-cradle,” said Ban-Ban, promptly.