"No, my dear. You'd better ask him if he ever saw such a rain."

"So I will," and away went Carry through the sunshine. And she said to
herself: "Wouldn't it be funny if it did rain so? I guess grandma
wouldn't like it much if cats rained down, 'cause she says five cats are
too many now."

The tea-party on an old chair without a back wasn't much of an affair,
after all; for, although the doll--Miss Rose de Lorme--was propped up
against a starch-box more than half a dozen times, she would keep on
sliding feet first until she came down flat on her back and thumped her
head. The kitten went to sleep in the corner just as Carry put her down.

"Oh, dear!" sighed the little girl. "It's so lonely with cats and dolls
and things that can't talk!" And then she sat down in a corner by the
old wash-boiler, where she could see out of the open door, and took
Kitty into her lap.

The great fluffy clouds banked up higher and higher, and from being
white and dazzling they began to grow black at the edges; and the black
masses rolled up and up, until the sun was all hidden and the sky was
dark. Then came the rain, gently at first, in drops far apart, but soon
it fell faster and faster, and the little leaves on the currant-bushes
jumped up and down and seemed to enjoy the shower-bath. To Carry's great
delight, little streams began to creep over the path, now in separate
little trickles, and presently with sudden little darts into one
another, as they came to uneven places in the walk. She watched it all
with great wide eyes, and felt quiet and cool just to smell the damp
earth.

But soon the drops grew bigger, and all at once they weren't drops of
rain at all!

"Good gracious!" cried Carry. "Kittens,--little blind kittens! It'll
rain dogs next, I suppose!"

That's exactly what did happen; for down came puppies along with the
kittens. They squirmed and mewed and hissed and yelped, and all the time
kept growing bigger and bigger. Some came head first pawing the air as
they fell; some tail first, looking scared to death; but most miserable
of all were those that came down tumbling over and over. It made them so
dizzy to come down in that whirligig fashion, that they staggered about
when they tried to stand. Carry felt truly sorry for them, and yet she
couldn't help laughing. And the cats and dogs who had come first laughed
too.

"Dear me! That's sort of funny, isn't it?" she thought; but the surprise
didn't last long, for, in th