“You will see—just wait.”
I have seen. I have found out that all these cats are homesick. Now bedtime has come, it is dreadful. They all look sad, and some of them are moaning in their sleep. They have all been used to human beings. Cat society is not good enough for them.
Down below in the courtyard, for this is a dogs' home as well, we can hear the big animals crying out and howling. They are dreaming of their dear masters and mistresses. Oh! I hope Mrs. Darley knows about this sheltering home for animals, and that she will come in the morning to get me. Good night, dear father Piebald Prince, and Mother Dust-and-Ashes. I am not with you, but I hope you will sleep well, and not think about me. Good night, Serena, and Jimmy Dory. You are often provoking, but I love you both.
CHAPTER III
A SURPRISING CHANGE
Last night I thought I was in a queer place, but upon my word, to-night I am in a queerer; and I don't believe that in Boston there is a more puzzled or confused little cat than I am. Here I lie, curled up in a heap of soft, white fur and pink silk—I think it is an old opera cloak—that is carefully arranged in a big armchair near the bed where sleeps a pale, pretty little girl. I was the last thing that her eyes rested on before she went to sleep, and she wished me to be the first object before her when she awoke.
There is a dull fire burning in the grate with a wire guard before it. One of the windows is open, and soon the fire will go out and the room will be quite cold, but I won't mind it, wrapped as I am in this soft cloak.
Fixing my eyes on the few red coals, I am thinking over the events of the day. Let me begin from the first, for whenever we go out and come in again, my mother says, “Please tell me everything you have done since you left me,” so that she has got her kittens in the habit of relating things, and thinking them over in a orderly way.
Last night I went to sleep in the big room in the Cats' Home. I hadn't a very comfortable night of course, but still I slept a good deal, and whenever I woke with a start I was glad to find myself in a place where no one could chase me.
Early in the morning I went out in the roof-garden. It was rather hard for the kittens to get out, for two old cats stationed themselves each side of the swinging door and boxed the ears of every kitten that passed. One boxed the right side, and one the left, but after it was over we didn't mind it much.
The most of us drank our milk out there. Such nice big dishes of it, the woman called “Mercy” brought to us.