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If Bab could have kept her hat on! But she couldn't, and the moment it came off they all cried out: "Why-ee, Barbara!" and turned away to laugh. If Mrs. McQuilken had been there she would have said the child looked "as if she was possessed of the fox." "The little goosies! Let them enjoy it!" whispered Mrs. Hale to Mrs. Dunlee.
But oh, it was dreadful to hear himself laughed at, not only by that mischievous Nate, but by half a dozen other boys and a few grown people, who had collected on the spot; among them the landlord and Mrs. McQuilken. Not that any one could be blamed for laughing. Jimmy was a comical object.
Oh, isn't she sweet?" said Edith, dropping on her knees before the graceful creature. Mrs. McQuilken enjoyed seeing the child go off into small raptures; Edith was fast winning her heart. "Does your mother like cats?" she suddenly inquired. "Not particularly," replied Edith, clapping her hands, as Zee with a quick dash bore away the ball out of the very paws of the coon cat.
McQuilken, smiling under her East Indian puggaree, as she had not been seen to smile before, and dropping a kiss on the cheek of her favorite Edith. After dinner the Dunlees met in Aunt Vi's room, and Aunt Vi observed that Mrs. Dunlee kept Jimmy close by her side, looking at him in the way mothers look at good little sons, her eyes shining with happy love and pride.
She was not to be put off like an everyday cat with saucers of milk and scraps of meat; she must have the choicest bits from the table. "Mrs. McQuilken says the best-fed cats make the best mousers," said Edith. "Is that so, Miss Edith? Then the mice here at Castle Cliff haven't long to live!" laughed good-natured Mr. Templeton, as he handed Zee's little mistress a pitcher of excellent cream.
"Thank ee, my little lady; sense you're plazed to ask me, my name's Dannul." "O, are you?" said Flyaway, looking up in surprise at the large and oddly-dressed stranger. "Are you Daniel? My mamma's just been reading about you. You was in the lions' den wasn't you, Daniel?" Mr. McQuilken smiled at bareheaded, flossy-haired little Katie, and replied, with a wink at Abner,
Her eyes were roving about the room, attracted by the curiosities, though she dared not ask a single question. "That nest on the wall looks odd to you, I dare say," said Mrs. McQuilken. "The twigs are woven together so closely that it looks nice enough for a lady's work-bag, now doesn't it?" Edith said she thought it did. "Well, that's the magpie's nest. She laid seven eggs in it once.
McQuilken said the canary liked to have Mag near him at night, he was apt to be lonesome. "I wish you'd come in the daytime," said she. "Come any and all of you, and hear him sing. He does sing so sweetly, poor blind thing; it's as good as a sermon to hear him." On leaving Mrs. McQuilken the children went to Aunt Vi's room and Jimmy kept repeating joyously:
"Doesn't that seem human?" cried Mrs. McQuilken. And really it did. It was exactly the laugh of a human boy, though it came from the throat of a tiny bird. "My little boys, Pitt and Roscoe, liked to hear him do that," said Mrs. McQuilken. Edith observed that she did not say "my boyoes." "Pitt, the one that died in Japan, doted on the mocking-bird.
Edith was very grateful to Mrs. McQuilken for this remarkable kitten. She had taken much pains with her pencil drawing of a cherub in the clouds, intending it as a present for the eccentric old lady. "Do you suppose she'll like it, mamma? You know she's so odd that one never can tell." Mrs. Dunlee was sure the picture would be appreciated.
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