They all laughed, but Mrs. Laval put her arm round Matilda and stooped down and kissed her.
"Judith is a wild animal herself, isn't she, dear? She is a sort of little wild-cat. But she has soft paws; they don't scratch."
Matilda was not quite so sure of this. However, when they left the table Judith set about gaining her point in earnest; but Norton was not to be won over. He was going with Matilda alone, he said, the first time; and so he did.
It was all enjoyment then, as soon as Matilda and Norton left the house together. Matilda was in a new world. Her eyes were busy making observations everywhere.
"How beautiful the houses are, Norton," she said, when they had gone a block or two. "There are not many poor people in New York, are there?"
"Well, occasionally you see one," said Norton.
"I don't see anything that looks like one. Norton, why do they have the middle of the street covered with those round stones? They make such a racket when the carts and carriages go over them. It is very disagreeable."
"Is it?" said Norton. "You won't hear it after you have been here a little while."
"Not hear it? But why do they have it so, Norton?"
"Why Pink, just think of the dust we should have, and the mud, if it was all like Shadywalk, and these thousands of wheels cutting into it all the time."