Arthur listened to all the arguments they brought forward with as much patience as he could muster. But at last he said, "Look here, if you were a boy like me, and not a couple of girls brought up in cotton-wool, for fear you should hear a word of the truth about things, you would know that the Murrays, if they are a county family, have been going downhill for years and years. People say that Papa ought to have given up the old house long before he did,—and—and—" But there Arthur stopped, for he had resolved that neither mother nor sisters should hear the hard words that had been said, if he could prevent it, and so he sat silent for a minute, while Molly shed a few quiet tears over what she deemed her brother's obstinacy and general wrongheadedness. "I don't think Dr. Robinson ought to take such boys as this young Brading," she said at last. "Brading is every bit as good as we are," cried Arthur indignantly. "I suppose you will allow us to have our own opinion about that," said his elder sister rather stiffly. She and Molly began clearing the tea-things away, and when that was done, Annie went to sit with her mother, and tried to coax her into a more cheerful mood. Molly stayed in the kitchen to wash up the tea-things, and Arthur took up a book, but by the time Molly came back he had forgotten his anger, and was ready to listen to the complaints against Tuffy and Bob. "Mamma doesn't like to hear them called cats, she is so fond of them, and won't let them eat common food; but the fact is, Arthur, we can't afford to pay tenpence a pound for biscuits for them." "But you can buy cheaper ones," said her brother quickly, "I have seen them in the shop windows for half that price. If that is what has upset Mamma, I'll soon put things straight, and then when you have settled things to the satisfaction of the tabbies, just say a word for me, like a dear girl." He did not wait to hear what his sister answered, but dashed out to buy some cheap biscuits out of his own pocket-money, and then Molly was sent upstairs with them on a delicate china plate. But on the stairs she met her sister coming down. "Mamma thinks she could eat a filleted sole," she said with something like a weary sigh. Molly turned back with her to the dining-room, still carrying Arthur's peace-offering. "Won't the pampered beasts eat them?" he asked, when he saw that the biscuits had not been touched. "I have not tried them yet," said Molly, "but if Mamma has made up her mind that they are to have filleted sole, she is not likely to let them eat cheap biscuits." Annie's eyes were full of unshed tears as she asked Arthur if he would go to the fishmonger's for her. "But—but—you cannot afford to buy sole at two shillings a pound to feed cats, even if they are Persians and Mamma's."