Mrs. McQuilken was much surprised as well as gratified; and actually there were tears in her eyes as she took the offering from Edith"s hand.
She was a lonely old body, and never expected much attention from any one, especially from children.
"Why, how kind of you, my dear! It"s a beauty!" she exclaimed, gazing at the cherub through her spectacles. She was a good judge of pictures.
"That face is well drawn, and the clouds are fleecy. Did you really do it your own self--and for me? Thank you, dear child!"
Edith blushed with pleasure. She had by no means counted on such praise.
"I"ll always be kind to old people after this," she thought. "I believe they care more about it than you think they do."
But here they were interrupted by the very loud mewing of a cat out of doors. They both ran downstairs to see what it meant.
"I do hope and trust it isn"t my Zee," cried Edith in alarm.
But it was. They did not see her at first; she was in the back yard behind the hotel. It seems a pan of clams had been left standing on the back door-step; and Zee must have been frolicking about the pan, never dreaming any live creature was in it, when one of the clams, attracted by her black waving tail, had caught the tip of the tail in his mouth and was holding it fast!
This was pretty severe. Being only an ignorant bivalve, the clam did not know that what he had in his mouth was a very precious article, the "prize tail" of a beautiful cat. But having once taken hold of it, the clam was too obstinate to let go.
Poor Zee jumped up and down, and ran around in circles, mewing with all her might. What had happened she did not know; she only knew some heavy thing was dragging at her tail and pinching it fearfully. Every one in the back of the house was busy; no one but Eddo heard Zee"s cries. He ran to the maid to ask "what made the kitty sing so sorry?" Whenever she mewed he called it singing.
The maid looked out then and threw down her mixing-spoon for laughing.
It was an odd sight to see a cat prancing about, waving her plume-like tail with a clam at the end of it! Nancy was sorry for the kitten, but did not know how in the world to get off the clam.
"Take an axe! Take a hatchet!" cried Mrs. McQuilken.
And without waiting for Nancy she seized a hatchet herself, split the sh.e.l.l of the clam, and let poor kitty free.
When Kyzie got home from school, Mrs. McQuilken had just mended Zee"s bleeding member with a piece of court-plaster. All the boarders were grouped about on the lawn and veranda talking it over. Mrs. Dunlee held in her lap a very forlorn and crumpled little bundle of kitty; and Edith and Eddo were crying as if their hearts would break.
"That beautiful, beautiful tail!" sobbed Edith.
"Don"t be unhappy about it, darling," said Aunt Vi, "it will heal in time."
"I know "t will heal, auntie; but what I"m thinking of is, won"t it be stiff? Aren"t you afraid "twill lose the--the--_expression of the wiggle?_"
No one even smiled at the question; everybody tried to comfort Edith.
And right in the midst of this trying scene another event occurred of a different sort, but far more serious. It was little wonder that n.o.body once thought of saying to Kyzie:--
"Well, Grandma Graymouse, you promised to tell us to-night how you like your school."
The school was quite forgotten, and so was the injured kitten. It happened in this way: As soon as the kitten had been placed in a basket of cotton and seemed tolerably comfortable, Jimmy and "the little two"
went along the road as they often did to watch for the stage. "The colonel" might be coming now at almost any time, to find the lost vein of the gold mine, and they wanted to see him first of any one. Lucy had her papa"s watch fastened to the waist of her dress, and took great pleasure in seeing the hands move. This was not the first time she had been allowed to carry the watch, and she was very proud because papa had just said, "See how I trust my little girl."
Jimmy had Uncle James"s spy-gla.s.s.
"Nate thinks the colonel won"t come till to-morrow; but I expect him to-night. Let"s go farther up," said Jimmy-boy.
They all climbed a little way and stood on a rock gazing down toward the dusty road. They could see the roofs of several houses, and Lucy asked why there was so much wire on them.
"Oh, that"s to hold the chimneys on," was Jimmy"s reply.
"How queer!"
"Not queer at all. I"ve seen lots of chimneys tied on that way."
Bab doubted this, but Lucy was proud to think how much Jimmy knew.
"Six minutes past five," said she, looking at the watch again. "It takes these little hands just as long to go round this little face as it takes a clock"s hands to go round a clock"s face. How funny!"
"Not funny at all," said Jimmy. "They"re made that way. But be careful, Lucy Dunlee, or you"ll drop that watch. I shouldn"t have thought papa would have let you bring it up here. Did you tell him where we were going?"
"No, I never," replied Lucy with a sudden p.r.i.c.k of conscience. "I didn"t know we"d go so far. "Twas you that spoke and said we"d go higher up."
"Well, you"d better let me take it, Lucy. I"m older than you are, and I"ve got a little pocket, too, just the right size to hold it."
Lucy hesitated, not wishing to part with the watch, and not at all sure that it would be safer with Jimmy than with herself. He was not a famous care-taker.
"I don"t see why you want to get it away when papa lent it to me and it"s fastened on so tight. How do I know papa would be willing?"
As she spoke, however, Jimmy was fingering the little chain to see if he could undo the clasp which held it to her dress.
"There, I don"t believe you could have got it off, Lucy, you didn"t know how."
"Why, I never tried--papa fastened it on himself--oh, Jimmy-boy, you will be so careful of it, now won"t you?"
For the watch lay in his hand, and she did not know how to get it back again. When he had set his heart on anything Lucy usually gave up.
Barbara looked on in disapproval as the big brother put the watch in his pocket.
It had long been Jimmy"s unspoken wish to have a watch of his very own like Nate Pollard and various other boys. How rich and handsome the short gold chain looked! What a bright spot it made as it dangled down his new jacket. He gazed at it admiringly, while Bab and Lucy took turns in looking through the spy-gla.s.s.
"The stage is coming," they cried. Then they all started and ran down the mountain; but as the stage drove up to the hotel no colonel alighted, or at least, no one who looked like a colonel. Jimmy was playing with the short gold chain which made a bright spot on his jacket. He meant to restore the watch to its owner at dinner-time; but it was early, he was not going in yet. And there was Nate Pollard throwing up his cap and looking ready for a frolic.
"I stump you to catch me!" said Nate.
"Poh, I can catch you and not half try."
Jimmy-boy was agile, Nate rather heavily built and clumsy. But if Jimmy had suspected what a foolhardy project was in Nate"s mind he would have held back from the race.
As it was, they both planted themselves against a tree, shouted, "One, two, three!" and off they started. No one was watching, no one remembered afterward which way they were going.
VIII
STEALING A CHIMNEY
The "knitting-woman" sat knitting in her chamber that looked up the mountain side, and thinking how the zebra kitten had suffered from her enemy, the clam. Mrs. McQuilken"s own cats were most of them asleep; the blind canary was eating her supper of hemp-seed; and the noisy magpie had run off to chat with the dog and hens. The room seemed remarkably quiet. Mrs. McQuilken narrowed two st.i.tches and glanced out of the window.