Pretty soon his mother looked out of a window, and then she came running out.
"My dear little boy," she said, "what are you digging?"
The little boy got up, and the cat scampered away a few feet, with her bushy tail straight up in the air.
"I'm digging a cellar for a house," said the little boy.
"Oh," said his mother. "Well, don't you think you'd better build the house over near the sand-pile? People coming in might not see this house, and they might kick it over and walk on it. But the masons have come to work on the real cellar."
"The masons?" the little boy asked.
"The men to build the cellar wall. You may go and watch them if you like."
The little boy nodded again. Then he put his shovel into his cart, and took hold of the handle of the cart. Then he looked back.
"Good-bye," he said.
"Good-bye, my dear little son," his mother said.