XXVII
ANOTHER HOME
One day soon after Brownie’s death Dorothy and Teddy came over with Judy, their little Maltese kitty, all nicely cuddled up in a covered basket, and asked mistress if she would keep her till they returned from the Lake Shore.
“You know we promised to have some one take care of the kittens during our vacation,” said Dorothy, “and we couldn’t think of anybody that would do it better than you.”
Mistress seemed very much pleased at this. She praised the children for remembering their promise so well and told them that Judy might stay. Then she added, “But who is going to take care of Punch?”
“We intend to take him along,” said Teddy; “we would take Judy too, but mamma thinks two cats will be too much trouble.”
“Oh, no,” said mistress, “you must either take both, or leave both. If they are separated so long they will become estranged, and then they will no longer live together peaceably.”
“Then you will have to keep Punch, too,” said Dorothy.
“Rather than have them separated, I will do so,” said mistress, “but you must bring their basket and cushions, so they will have some familiar objects to attract them to this place.”
So Teddy went home and fetched Punch and the cat furniture, and while he was gone I had a little chat with Judy. She did not remember me at first, and acted quite saucy for a while. But when I told her that I was her mother, and how I had nursed her and Punch, and raised them to be the handsome cats they were, she snuggled up to me and said, “Oh, yes; now I remember: you used to wash us, and bring us mousies to play with; and I remember also the beautiful lullaby you used to sing to us:
Rockaby, hushaby, Pussy, my dear,