“It tires me to walk long on my hind legs, Lois,” said Kiku-san, “or I would gladly take your hand.”
“I should like to carry you, if you wouldn’t mind,” said Lois, doubtfully. “We could talk more easily than if I had to bend down so very much—and I always carried you.”
“Certainly, you shall carry me, dear,” said Kiku, at once holding up his paws. Lois drew him to her breast, as she had done in her own home; Rob shouldered Ban-Ban, and thus they progressed comfortably, hearing without difficulty the story of the founding of Purrington, which was poured into their ears by their beloved cats.
“And that is why you went away!” cried Rob, admiringly, when Ban-Ban had finished the story. He regarded the Maltese with eyes of new respect as the founder of a refuge for the unfortunate ones of his kind.
“You darling, darling Kiku-san-chrysanthemum blossom!” Lois was saying, as she hugged Kiku closer. “You don’t know how I love you—and Bannie-boy! It is such a comfort to know that there is a place like this where cats can live happily ever after! I’m glad you did it, though I’ve cried myself ’most sick over your going off, and worried and worried! Our mothers tried to get Rob and me to have another kitten, but we just couldn’t look at another one! But it’s worth it all to have a city for poor, friendless cats!”
“Well, I should think we would be the protector, or whatever-you-call-it, of Purrington,” Lois heard Rob saying to Ban-Ban: “We’ll come out here once a week, and we’ll bring all kinds of things to you—Oh, say, Bannie, not to you, though! Won’t you come home again, and let Purrington be run by the Purrers without you? You’ve got it started, and Lois and I can’t stand it without you and Kiku-san.”
Ban-Ban put his mouth close to Rob’s ear and whispered.
“You’re the stuff!” Rob cried, joyously, and Lois knew it was going to be all right, even before Kiku whispered to her: “I couldn’t stay away from you to save my life, Lois. We’re going back when you do.”
The children could not get inside of Bidelia’s house, but they surveyed the rooms through the windows, and were delighted with the tiny, cosy arrangements, and its neatness. The three kittens were led forth by Bidelia, very beautiful to behold in fresh ribbons, but Puttel and Dolly each had a paw in her mouth for shyness. The instant they saw the children they forgot to be shy, but ran at once to them to be petted. Lois gathered Puttel and Dolly up into her neck, and here they remained through the ceremonies at the city hall, while Nugget, who was, now that he had been freed from Scamp’s influence, the same good, obedient little Nugget as of old, sat on Rob’s other shoulder, where Ban-Ban good-naturedly tolerated him.
The city hall had been hung with flowers—the late flowers of September—and all the Purrers were seated in the body of the hall when Rob and Lois arrived. Tommy Traddles, ’Clipsy, Wutz-Butz, and two of the old cats met them at the door and escorted them to the seats of honour on the platform, where Mrs. Brindle was already seated, as another distinguished and useful guest of Purrington, to Lois’s great dismay, for she was in mortal terror of a cow. But, when Ban-Ban and Kiku-san introduced Rob and Lois to Brindle, Lois saw at once that her fears were foolish. A sweeter-eyed, more gentle-appearing person than Mrs. Brindle it had never been her fortune to meet, and the Extract of New Mown Hay, and Sweet Clover with which she seemed to be perfumed made her sweet in another sense. So Lois took the chair placed for her between Rob and Brindle without a qualm, and looked at the meeting with the greatest interest. Such a lot of cats, and such nice, happy, sleek ones she had never seen before. Mr. S. Katz, the butcher, sat directly in front of the platform, and his prosperity stood out about his stout person like a rich garment.