"They are soft," admitted Ralph. "Don't you think so?"
"I don't know. I never had a little cat."
"Never had a kitten?" cried Ralph. "You poor, defrauded child! What kind of a kitten would you like best?"
"A little grey cat," said Araminta, seriously, "a little grey cat with blue eyes, but Aunt Hitty would never let me have one."
"See here," said Ralph. "Aunt Hitty isn't running this show. I'm stage manager and ticket taker and advance man and everything else, all rolled into one. I can't promise positively, because I'm not posted on the cat supply around here, but if I can find one, you shall have a grey kitten with blue eyes, and you shall have some kind of a kitten, anyhow."
"Oh!" cried Araminta, her eyes shining. "Truly?"
"Truly," nodded Ralph.
"Would—would—" hesitated Araminta—"would it be any more than four dollars and a half if you brought me the little cat? Because if it is, I can't——"
"It wouldn't," interrupted Ralph. "On any bill over a dollar and a quarter, I always throw in a kitten. Didn't you know that?"
"No," answered Araminta, with a happy little laugh. How kind he was, eyen though he was a man! Perhaps, if he knew how wicked her mother had been, he would not be so kind to her. The stern Puritan conscience rose up and demanded explanation.