Peggy in Her Blue Frock | Page 4

year older than Alice. The children went around to the back door and asked if they could come in and telephone.
"It is something very important or we would not have come," said Peggy.
"I hope your mother isn't sick," said Mrs. Jones.
"No, it is about the cat."
"And you came out in all this rain about a cat?"
"She's as dear to us as if she was our child," said Alice.
"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Jones, as she led the way to the telephone room.
Peggy called up their old number. It made her a little homesick as she did so.
"Is Mrs. Carter there?" she asked as a shrill voice said "Hullo."
"It's a boy's voice," said Peggy. "There's one boy in the family. I'm glad of that."
She heard the boy call "Mother," and presently Mrs. Carter came to the telephone.
"Hullo," said Mrs. Carter, in a warm voice that Peggy liked.
"I'm Peggy Owen. Mother said I might come over and telephone you about the cat. She's lost--I mean the cat. We thought she might be at your house. She doesn't seem to like ours. Have you seen anything of a gray pussy with dark gray stripes?"
"I really don't know whether that one has been around or not. I'll ask them in the kitchen. We've been feeding a lot of stray cats."
"You didn't say enough about the way she looks. She may get her mixed with the gray tramp cat," said Alice, taking the telephone from Peggy.
"She's two shades of gray," she said to Mrs. Carter. "Such lovely dark stripes and then light ones; and there are thirteen stripes on her tail--first a dark and then a light, and so on; and her eyes are the shiniest things--most as bright as lights, only they are a kind of green; and she has a purr you can hear all across the room. Her name is Lady Jane, and she'll come for it."
Mrs. Carter came back to the telephone presently. "There has been a gray cat around," she said, "but she isn't here now. If she comes back I'll send one of the boys up with her."
"One of the boys," said Peggy to Alice, "so there must be two anyhow."
The day passed and nothing was heard of the cat, and once more the little girls had to go to bed with anxious hearts. It was still raining when the children waked up the next morning, and no pussy had yet appeared. They wanted to go back and hunt for her themselves, but it was too wet for so long a tramp, and, besides, Mrs. Owen was sure Mrs. Carter was too busy getting settled in her new house to want visitors.
"You don't seem a bit worried about Lady Jane, mother," said Peggy.
"I have a few other things to think about, and I am sure she is all right."
It was a three days' storm, and it was so wet on Sunday that they did not go to church or Sunday School. The day seemed very long. They helped their mother get dinner and they washed and wiped the inside dishes for her. They both liked to wash better than to wipe--it was such fun to splash the mop about in the soapy water.
"It is my turn to wash to-day," Alice reminded Peggy.
"But you are so slow," said Peggy. "I can do it a lot faster. However, it is your turn," she said, handing the mop to Alice with a little sigh.
It was toward the end of the afternoon and they were beginning to get tired of reading when the door bell rang.
"It is our first caller; go to the door, Peggy," said Mrs. Owen.
Alice followed Peggy as she ran to the door. As Peggy opened it, a sweep of wind and a swirl of rain came in. The wind was so strong it almost blew the door to. A freckled-faced boy with a pleasant smile and honest blue eyes was standing on the doorstep. Oh, joy! He had a basket in his hand.
"It's some rain," said the boy.
"Oh, have you got our cat in that basket?" Peggy asked.
"Now, what do you know about that!" said the boy. "Why should I know anything about your cat? Maybe I have cabbages in this basket."
"Cabbages wouldn't mew," said Peggy, as the occupant of the basket gave a long wail.
"It's our cat, I know her voice!" cried Alice in delight.
"Won't you come in and see mother?" Peggy asked, as the boy stepped inside the small entry and put his basket down.
"Can't stop." He had pulled his cap off politely when he came into the house, and Peggy saw that his hair was as yellow as her own. She wished hers might have been cropped as short.
"Oh, dear! what fun boys had! They could go out on the rainiest days."
The boy touched his cap