hat was part green and she bought it. Then
she said she'd take it right along in her car. Said she had a
friend that was as loony about cats as she was and she was goin' to
fetch her right down the very next day. And a couple of hours
after she'd gone Nate and his boy came back with a clothes basket
with a board over the top and loaded in the balance of the family
and went off with 'em. I ain't seen a hair of 'em since--no, I
won't say that quite, but I ain't seen THEM."

"And didn't he give you any of the seven dollars?"

"No-o."

"But you had been feeding those kittens and their mother for weeks."

"Ye-es."

"But didn't you ASK for anything?"

"We-ll, I told Nate he might maybe leave one of the kittens, so's I
could have a--er--souvenir of the visit, but he wouldn't do it.
Said those kittens was rare and--er--precious, or words to that
effect. He didn't intend to let another go as cheap as he had that
one."

"Oh. . . . I see. I remember now; I heard some one saying
something, early in July, about the sign on the Rogers' front
fence. 'Rare Cats for Sale' they said it was. I think. Of
course, I never thought of THOSE kittens. He must have sold them
all, for the sign isn't there now."

Jed whistled a few bars. "I don't hardly think he's sold 'em," he
said. "I presume likely he's just gone out of the business."

"I don't see why he shouldn't sell them. Green cats ought to sell
quickly enough, I should think. Were they green, honest and truly,
Jed?"

Mr. Winslow nodded.

"They were that mornin'," he drawled, solemnly.

"That morning? What do you mean?"

"We-ll, you see, Maud, those kittens were into everything and over
everything most of the time. Four of 'em had got in here early
afore I came downstairs that day and had been playin' hide and hoot
amongst my paint pots. They was green in spots, sure enough, but I
had my doubts as to its bein' fast color."

Maud laughed joyfully over the secret of the green pussies.

"I wish I might have seen that woman's face after the colors began
to wear off her 'rare' kitten," she said.

Jed smiled slightly. "Nathan saw it," he said. "I understood he
had to take back the kitten and give up the seven dollars. He
don't hardly speak to me nowadays. Seems to think 'twas my fault.
I don't hardly think 'twas, do you?"

Miss Hunniwell's call lasted almost an hour. Besides a general
chat concerning Leander Babbit's voluntary enlistment, the subject