Finally, the kitten struggled and fought so violently that they let her go, when she ran quickly down the stairs, and hid where they could not find her.
The next morning the kitten was missing, to Robbie’s great grief. The house was searched in vain, and the two girls began to fear that medicine was not good for her.
Feeling very guilty, they hunted everywhere on the place, and at last found the poor little dead body behind a box in the cellar, where she had crept to die.
The girls were horrified to think their play had killed her. They felt like murderers, and stole out into the arbor to think and plan what they should do. They dared not confess; they feared some sort of punishment for their crime, and they knew it would make Robbie very unhappy.
After much talk, they decided to dispose of the body secretly and not tell any one of their part in the sad business. But how to do it was the question that troubled them. They dared not bury it, for fresh digging in that small city yard would arouse suspicion at once. Bessie suggested that they should carry it far off in the night and throw it away. This plan seemed the best they could think of, till Helen said they would not be allowed to go out in the city after dark.
“I’ll tell you,” said Bessie at last. “I can do up a nice package,—Uncle Tom taught me,—and I’ll do it up, and we can take it away in the daytime; no one will know what it is, and then we can lose it somewhere.”
This plan was adopted. Helen got paper and string, and when everybody had gone to church that evening, they brought up the poor kitten, and Bessie made a very neat package which no one could suspect. This they hid away till they could get it out of the house.
After school the next day they got leave to visit a schoolmate who lived far up town, and Helen’s mother gave them money to ride in the omnibus—or stage, as they called it—which would take them there. There were no street cars then.
Hiding the small bundle under her cape, Bessie slipped out at the door, feeling now not only like a murderer, but like a thief besides.
They took the stage and rode up town, the package lying openly on Helen’s lap. When the stage reached Nineteenth Street it stopped, and to Helen’s horror one of her schoolmates came in. She was delighted to see the girls, and seated herself beside Helen.