Peggy flounced to the stove.
"Be a fool an' kiss 'em if you want to... I hate 'em."
In the coarse nightdress Peggy had made for her, Jinnie sat down beside Milly Ann. The yellow mother purred in delight. She'd brought them five new babies, and no idea entered her mother heart that she would have to part with even one.
Out came the kittens into the girl's lap, and one by one they were tenderly lifted to be kissed. Both Peggy and the kisser were silent while this loving operation was in process. Then Jinnie, still sitting, looked from Milly Ann to Peggy.
"I guess she's awful fond of her children, don't you, Peg?"
Peggy didn't answer.
"You see it's like this, Peg----"
"Didn't I tell you not to Peggy me?"
"Then it's like this, darling," drawled Jinnie, trying to be obedient.
"An' you needn't darlin' me nuther," snapped Peggy.
Jinnie thought a minute.
"Then it's like this, honey bunch," she smiled again.
Peg whirled around on her.
"Say, you kid----"
"Wait, dearie!" implored Jinnie. "Don't you know mother cats always love their kitties just like live mothers do their babies?"
Peggy rattled the stove lids outrageously. Hearing these words, she stopped abruptly. Who knows where her thoughts flew? Jinnie didn't, for sure, but she thought, by the sudden change of Mrs. Grandoken's expression, she could guess.
The woman looked from Milly Ann to the wriggling kittens in Jinnie's lap, then she stooped down and again brought to view Jinnie's little ear tucked away under the black curls.
"Get up out o' here an' dress; will you? I've said them cats've got to go, and go they will!"
Jinnie returned the kittens to their mother, and when she got back to her room, Bobbie was sitting up in bed rubbing his eyes.
"I couldn't find you, girl," he whimpered. "I felt the bed over and you was gone."
Jinnie bent over him.
"Peg took me out in the kitchen, dear... What do you think, Bobbie?"
Bobbie began to tremble.
"I got to go away from here ... eh?"
"Mercy, no!" laughed Jinnie. "Milly Ann's got a lot of new babies."
Bobbie gave a delighted squeal.
"Now I'll have something else to love, won't I?" he gurgled.
Jinnie hoped so! But she hadn't yet received Peg's consent to keep the family, so when the little boy was dressed and she had combed her hair and dressed herself, they went into the shop, where the cobbler met them with a smile.
"Peg's mad," Jinnie observed with a comprehensive glance at Mr. Grandoken.
"Quite so," replied Lafe, grinning over the bowl of his pipe. "She had frost on her face a inch thick when she discovered them cats. I thought she'd hop right out of the window."