pitable old
soul, in spite of her stupidity, invited me to tea, and asked Caesar
too."--Page 60.]

[Illustration: "When there suddenly came down on us a whole pailful
of water." Page 61.]

[Illustration: "He lifted me out by the nape of my neck, holding me
as far off from him as he could."--Page 68.]

VI.

My Dear Helen:

I will begin where I left off in my last letter.

As you may imagine, I did not get any sleep that night, not even so much
as a cat's nap, as people say, though how cat's naps differ from men's
and women's naps, I don't know. I shivered all night, and it hurt me
terribly whenever I moved. Early in the morning your grandfather came
downstairs, and when he saw how I looked, he swore again, that same
oath: we all know very well what it means when he swears in that way: it
means that he is going to do all he can for you, and is so sorry, that
he is afraid of seeming too sorry. Don't you remember when you had that
big double tooth pulled out, and he gave you five dollars, how he swore
then? Well, he took me up in his arms, and carried me into the
dining-room; it was quite cool; there was a nice wood fire on the
hearth, and Mary was setting the table for breakfast. He said to her in
a very gruff voice, "Here you, Mary, you go up into the garret and
bring down the cradle."

Sick as I was, I could not help laughing at the sight of her face. It
was enough to make any cat laugh.

"You don't ever mean to say, sir, as you're going to put that cat into
the cradle."

"You do as I tell you," said he, in that most awful tone of his, which
always makes you so afraid. I felt afraid myself, though all the time he
was stroking my head, and saying, "Poor pussy, there, poor pussy, lie
still." In a few minutes Mary came down with the cradle, and set it
down by the fire with such a bang that I wondered it did not break. You
know she always bangs things when she is cross, but I never could see
what good it does. Then your grandfather made up a nice bed in the
cradle, out of Charlie's winter blanket and an old pillow, and laid me
down in it, all rolled up as I was in your petticoat. When your mother
came into the room she laughed almost as hard as she did when she saw me
in the soft-soap barrel, and said, "Why, father, you are rather old to
play cat's cradle!" The old gentleman laughed at this, till the tears
ran down his red cheeks. "Well," he said, "I tell you one thing; the