"Did you ever hear of the time, Asahel," said his elder brother, "that a cat was sold by the length of her tail?"
"By the length of her tail!" said Asahel unbelievingly.
"Yes — for as much wheat as would cover the tip of her tail when she was held so —"
And suiting the action to the word, Rufus suspended the kitten with its nose to the floor and the point of its tail at the utmost height it could reach above that level. Winifred screamed; Asahel sprang; Rufus laughed and held fast.
"It's a shame!" said Winifred.
"You have no right to do it!" said Asahel. "It isn't the law, if it was the law; and it was a very cruel law!"
But Rufus only laughed; and there seemed some danger of a break in that kindliness of feeling which their father had vaunted, till Mrs. Landholm spoke. A word and a look of hers, to one and the other, made all smooth; and they went on again talking, of happy nothings, till it was time to separate for the night. It was only then that Mr. Landholm touched on any matter of more than slight interest.
"Well, Rufus," he said when at last they rose from their chairs, — "are you all ready for College?"
"Yes sir."
A little shadow upon both faces — a very little.