It was a pretty sight, an agreeable and pleasant sight, to behold the joy of the old cat when she saw her kitten. The poor creature seemed as if she would have talked. Martha took up the kitten, and laid it on a little bit of a mat in the corner of the chimney, where it used to be; and the old cat ran to it, and lay down by it, and gave it milk, and licked it, and talked to it in her way, (that is, in the way that cats use to their kittens,) and purred so loud, that you might have heard her to the very end of the cottage. It was a pleasant sight, as I said before, for it is a pleasure to see any thing happy; and Soffrona jumped and capered about the house, and knew not how sufficiently to express her joy: and as for little Sophia, her eyes were filled with tears; and poor old Martha was not the least happy of the party.
And now, when it was time to go, Soffrona took up her empty basket, and giving the kitten a kiss, “Little Puss,” she said, “I will rejoice in your happiness, though it will be a loss to me, for I must part with my little darling. But I will not be selfish: mamma says that I can never make myself happy by making other things miserable. Good-bye, little Puss: if God will help me, I will try never to be selfish.” And she walked out of the cottage, wiping away her tears.
“But you will let her have Muff, won’t you, Martha,” said Sophia, “when her mother has brought her up, and can part with her?”
“To be sure I will, dear Miss,” replied Martha; “for I was delighted to hear her say that she knew she never could make herself happy by making others miserable.”
When Muff was a quarter old, she was brought to Soffrona, and became her cat, and lived in her service till her yellow and black hairs were mingled with grey.
FINIS.
Houlstons, Printers, Wellington, Salop.
By the same Author.