ere going
exploring.

Cousin Aurelia was sputtering: "Do you know what he said when he left?
'Kid, you come along with Mike Possett. You don't want no part of that
planet. I'll show you a ripsnorting time!' Then he gave me a look
that--that was positively _lecherous_." She shuddered. "At least we'll
have no more of that nonsense. Your planet is uninhabited."

Betty looked worried. "I've the funniest feeling," she said. "As if
someone was watching."

"That's absurd!" snapped Cousin Aurelia. "You must be imagin--" She
stopped in her tracks. "Wh-what's _that_?"

They looked. A large, soft, fuzzy beast had come out from under the
trees. It was reddish and had very big feet. It blinked at them
brightly, climbed a transparent green rock, and started to whistle, not
too tunefully, through its long Roman nose.

Almost instantly, another emerged, a size smaller. Lowering its eyelids
coquettishly, it began clapping its forepaws.

"Charles, they must be the 'critters' Burgee mentioned in that
catalogue. Remember? I'm sure they're perfectly harmless."

Two more animals appeared and made for a rock of their own. And then
there were, suddenly, dozens--all around the edge of the meadow. These
were petite, creamy, with lavender ears. They came bounding forward in
pairs, sat up and regarded the Buttons solemnly.

Charles began to relax. Somehow, Sugar Plum didn't seem half so enormous
any longer, now that they weren't so alone.

"I wonder if they could be tamed." Betty was wistful.

"They're certain to be just full of fleas," sniffed Cousin Aurelia.

The creatures were playful. As the Buttons walked over the meadow, they
frolicked around them--

But they also were very affectionate. As they frolicked, they flirted.
Every once in a while, each pair would pause to rub noses, to murmur
seductively, to nip one another.

At first, Cousin Aurelia tried to pretend they weren't there. But
finally she halted. "Charles Edward Button, I won't go a step farther
till you drive those nasty things away. It's disgraceful. They're apt to
do--anything!"

Charles flushed under his netting. "Shoo!" he said ineffectively. "Beat
it!"

There was a swift patter of feet straight ahead and a figure flashed
into view. She was slim. She was small, with a girdle and headdress of
feathers. Her skin was sky-blue, and her ears were pointed, and her eyes
were simply enormous. But she looked distressingly human.

In an instant, she vanished. As the