THAT BOY WAS ROUGH AND PLAYED EXPERIMENTS WITH HIM.
He was put to bed, and he came out all in red spots, and he simply yelled for his black cat. The nurse took Charlie up and put him on the bed, and the little boy grabbed him and held him very uncomfortably for a long time till he got tired. He was a very clever little boy, and when his mother said to him, 'But, Teddy, you will give the poor cat your measles,' he answered, 'He can be defected same as me, can't he?'
'They don't disinfect you, my boy, only your clothes,' the mother said. 'And that is so that your clothes may not give it to any one else.'
'Then can Charlie carry a measle away on his fur?' the little boy asked, very much frightened, and began to cry because he supposed that Charlie ought to be taken away from him. They were much upset at the idea, and the nurse said in a low voice:
'We can arrange all that, ma'am; don't thwart him, whatever you do!' And so Charlie was left, but from that moment he had an uncomfortable feeling that the nurse meant to kill him when he had done his work of amusing Teddy. So when Teddy was going to get better he watched to see the sick-room door open, and ran away and came in here.
That was the first time mother had heard of the reasons that had induced him to leave his home, and she was very serious.
'I don't believe that we are liable to measles,' she said thoughtfully. 'But you may give it to Auntie May.'
'She never takes me on her lap,' said the black cat sadly. 'I ought not to repine, for it is safer for her, and she is a nice lady. I hunger for a word of affection sometimes, though.'