“I’ve read about it; they used to do it in the Middle Ages,” Rob whispered back. “I don’t know what it means, but it’s a great honour.”
“Tommy Traddles is a scholar; he will tell you what it means, Rob,” said Ban-Ban, and Rob nearly tumbled down, he was so surprised to hear his own cat speak to him, for so far neither Ban-Ban nor Kiku-san had spoken directly to the children.
“It means,” said Tommy Traddles, promptly, not unwilling to reveal his learning, though he never tried to display it, “it means this: While you stay with us, and always on all the other visits which we hope you will make often, everything in Purrington is yours: our houses, our shops, our services are entirely yours. We desire to beg you to accompany us to the city hall to receive this freedom with proper ceremonies.”
“Thank you very much,” said Rob, a trifle dismayed at the prospect of taking part in public ceremonies in the cats’ city hall. “But I don’t understand what this city is, nor why Ban-Ban and Kiku-san brought us here. Would you mind telling us? Because we feel queer.”
“Haven’t you explained Purrington to them and why you sought them?” demanded Tommy Traddles, turning reproachfully to Ban-Ban.
“Why, how could I?” retorted Ban-Ban, “when I couldn’t speak to them so that they would understand till they had passed our gates? It was all we could do to get them to follow us here, wasn’t it, Rob?”
“It certainly was,” said Rob, feeling that he must be talking in a dream.
“Take Rob and Lois to your house—yours and Bidelia’s—and there tell them the story of how we came to be a city. They will like to see your house anyway, and we can delay the presentation of the freedom of the city for half an hour,” said Tommy Traddles, graciously.
“Come, Lois,” said Kiku-san, and Lois, recognizing the familiar cooing note in his voice, realized that he must have often said: “Come, Lois,” in the old days, before she had understood his speech.
She gladly accompanied the dear white cat, while Rob walked beside Ban-Ban.