s of their hutches in a dead
stillness. Their eyes were very bright. By a kindly provision of
nature they had been able, in the darkness, to follow the fortunes of
that vociferous fray.

In three minutes Lady Ryehampton had forgotten the battle-song. She
was charmed, lost in admiration of the home, of the fatness and
healthiness of the blinking kittens, the neatness and the cleanliness.
She gushed enthusiastic approbation. "To think," she cried, "that you
have done this yourself! A boy of thirteen!"

"Erebus did quite as much as I did," said the Terror quickly.

"And Wiggins helped a lot. He's a friend of ours," said Erebus no less
quickly.

Lady Ryehampton's face softened to Erebus--to Erebus, the instructor of
parrots.

Sir Maurice joined them. His eyes were red and moist, as if they had
but now been full of tears.

"It's a very creditable piece of work," he said in a tone of warm
approval.

Lady Ryehampton looked round the home once more; and her face fell.
She said uneasily: "But you must be heavily in debt."

"In debt?" said the Terror. "Oh, no; we couldn't be. Mother would
hate us to be in debt."

"I thought--a cats' home--oh, but I _am_ glad I brought my check-book
with me!" cried Lady Ryehampton.

She could not understand why Sir Maurice uttered a short sharp howl.
She did not know that the Terror dug him sharply in the ribs as Erebus
kicked him joyfully on the ankle-bone; that they had simultaneously
realized that the future of the home, the wages of "overseering," were
secure.

CHAPTER V

AND THE SACRED BIRD

Lady Ryehampton did not easily tear herself away from the home; and the
Terror did all he could to foster her interest in it. The crowning
effect was the feeding of the kittens, which was indeed a very pretty
sight, since twenty-three kittens could not feed together without many
pauses to gambol and play. The only thing about the home which was not
quite to the liking of Lady Ryehampton was the board over the door.
She liked it as an advertisement of her philanthropy; but she did not
like its form; she preferred her name in straighter letters, all of
them of the same size. At the same time she did not like to hurt the
feelings of the Terror by showing lack of appreciation of his handiwork.

Then she had a happy thought, and said: "By the way, I think that the
board over the door ought to be uniform--the same as the boards over
the entrances of my other cats' homes. T