CHAPTER XII.
BETTER THAN KITTENS.
Yes, they seemed just as glad to see me as if I was the Queen of England, and had been gone all the days of my life. Father, especially, looked really overjoyed.
"How they must have missed me!" thought I, springing out of the coach and falling headlong over old Towser. "O, please catch that kitten."
Ned seized the empty basket and whirled it over his head.
"Who cares for such trash? We've got something in the house that's better than sixteen kittens."
"Rabbits?"
"Come and see," said 'Ria, giving me one hand, while she stroked Silvertoes with the other.
"O, I don't believe it's anything. Is it wax beads? You haven't asked where I came from, nor whose house I staid to. There was a woman with gold beads, and he called her Harret, and—"