The boys grinned at the way Patricia put out her fingers and drew them back. How could these little bits of kittens hurt her? Didn’t she know they couldn’t bite yet? Their little teeny teeth couldn’t do anything but nibble. It was fun to feel them. Marvin caught up the white one and held it out to her, and they all kept urging her. He hoped her fingers would touch his. She cringed back, her mouth pursed in wonder. “Oh, but they have such funny tails!” “No, they ain’t. They got tails like all cats got.” “Oh, no, Marvin. In the show the kitties have tails so big, and they waved them--just like the big plumes on men’s hats riding on horses.” The boys doubled up with laughter. “Who’d put cats in a show?” “Oh, but they are!” Patricia looked at them in distress. “Why shouldn’t they be?” Leone demanded. Of course she knew why, as well as the boys did. Nobody would pay to see a cat! Patricia had meant the tigers. She was so little she didn’t know the difference. The boys were not to tease her though! Clyde was giggling. Gee, if she didn’t have the funniest notions! At last they got her to touch the kitten. She did it first with just the pink tip of one finger--then it felt so soft, so little and fluffy, with tiny whiskers like fine silk threads, that she reached out her hands. Marvin felt the brush of her fingers, as if a cobweb had blown across his hand, and a shiver of joy and pain went down his backbone. Patricia laughed in delight, and looked from one to the other of the children with her large shining eyes, to share her wonder. “Take it!” Marvin urged. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t!” “Why not? Go on and take it!” She shook her head. “She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to,” Leone said warmly. “Yes, she does!” Marvin thrust the kitten into her hands. She gave a little shriek and squeezed it by its soft belly, while the weak pinkish legs wavered and clawed out of her grasp. “I’m going to drop it!” “No, you won’t!” Its fluffiness filled her with ecstasy. “Oh, see its claws! They look like little bits of shavings from mother’s pearl beads!” The boys grinned in amusement and delight at each other. Vila laughed happily. “Oh, and inside its little ears! Just the way shells look inside--only these are _silk_ shells!” The boys grinned broadly. She caught the kitten to her cheek and held it wildly wriggling. “Oh, kitty, I love you! I want to have you to take home!” “You can--you can have it,” the children all urged her eagerly. Marvin said, “Gee, we got all kinds of cats, and that old gray one----” Clyde pinched him. “Shut up!” He grinned and blushed. Patricia laid the kitten gravely and reluctantly back in the rounded nest. She shook her head until the fluffy bell of shining hair trembled. She said solemnly, and as if she had forgotten that the others were there: “No. I won’t. Because all its other little sisters and brothers would be lonesome for it. And its mother would.” The boys stood grinning but they said nothing.