Three years after Daisy came to them he disappeared, and they mourned long for him, particularly because they thought a neighbor who disliked cats had killed him.
Topsy quarrelled with him and drove him about, but Daisy was sweet tempered and bore it so quietly that Topsy despised him. She did not love any cat unless she could fight with him. Topsy had a great many kittens. Like many human mothers, she was not fond of taking care of her children. She was very peremptory, cuffing them right and left at the least provocation. She was a cat "Mrs. Jellyby," the Borrioboola-gha mission being more to her taste than her home. She did not care to chaperon sons and daughters into society, and she cast them adrift as soon as possible. One kitten was always kept for her, and she never seemed to miss the others. When she was ready to wean that one, it was provided with a good home, without the least interest on her part. The family were very fond of kittens, but dared not get interested in them, for they could only keep two at one time.
She had one beautiful little black one, and Miss Eleanor became so fond of her that she decided to keep her for her own. She deserves another chapter.
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LITTLE PEARL
LITTLE PEARL was coal-black, with one little white star under her chin. She was the only one of all Topsy's kittens that was black. Topsy did show more affection for her than for any of the others. She had bright yellow eyes like her mother's, and her fur was soft and glossy as silk. She was very sweet tempered, and never would strike back, as her brothers and sisters had done when their mother washed them, cuffing them if they dared move.
Miss Eleanor was devoted to little Pearl, but all her care could not keep her. She died from some internal disease when she was about four months old. She was a perfect skeleton, and her mother nursed her out of pity because she could not take much food.
One evening Miss Milly returned home from a visit, and on going to Miss Eleanor's room saw something in the middle of the floor covered with an apron. Miss Eleanor sat by the window, in great affliction. She lifted the apron, and there lay little Pearl, looking just like a lovely piece of sculpture.