I did not want to be left alone, so I mewed round her feet, and she took me up and carried me to another room.
There was a fire in it, and a table with books on it and some straight-backed chairs. I lay down on the fur rug by the grate, and soon went fast asleep, while Mary and a tall young lady talked about things that I did not in the least understand.
So our afternoon passed, then came dinner. I was dreadfully tired and sleepy by this time, and fell to nodding over my plate of turkey bones.
Soon after dinner, Mary's old nurse put her to bed. First, though, the little girl chose the most comfortable chair in the room for me, drew it close to her bed and wrapped me in this cloak. Here I lie, curled up comfortably, half asleep and half awake, and, as I say, very puzzled and confused. Am I going to be happy here, away from my parents? What shall I do to amuse myself all day? There is not another cat in sight. I thought I heard dogs in the basement. I smelt them, anyway. I hate dogs. Well, I must go to sleep. It won't do any good to lie awake bothering about the future. Oh, how comfortable I am! My poor old mother—I wish she could have had a nice cloak like this to sleep on, when she was a poor homeless cat, crouching in the shelter of a fence to keep herself from the cold rain. Why can't all cats have nice homes? Aren't there enough homes to go round? I saw a cat on the Common this afternoon—very thin, and dirty, and skulking from tree to tree looking for scraps. Why am I wrapped in a fur cloak, and why is she out in the cold? Am I a better cat than she is? Probably not. I am called a naughty kitten. My brain is quite tired from thinking about things. I will go to sleep.
CHAPTER IV
I VISIT MY FAMILY
To-day I had quite an experience.
I have been in the Denvilles' family just three days, and the more I see of my young mistress the more I like her.
Actually, I have not done one bad thing since I came. My little mistress keeps me with her all the time. Her company is a great satisfaction to me, and a great safeguard. If some bad animals were allowed to be more in the society of the human beings they love, they also would improve.
Well, I have been closely watched to see that I did not run away. I have been even taken in the carriage to drive. Little Mary got an old muff of her mother—a huge, soft thing, and when we go out, she puts me in it. Oh! what fun I have sitting on the seat beside Mary, and staring at all the queer things in the streets. So many of them I have never seen before, and Mary explains them to me as politely as if I were a human being. Her nurse went with us one day, and her mamma went the other days.
On account of little Mary's delicate health she is always kept out-of-doors in the morning, while the sun is nice and warm, and she does lessons in the afternoon.