‘Isn’t it more amusing, mother, than to sing, “Purr, darlings, purr?”’ said Eben, as the three paused for breath. ‘We made a better song than that the other night,’ said Patty. ‘You made a song?’ Sally was delighted. She was proud of her kittens. ‘Eben made most of it, but I helped him,’ said Patty, and the two kittens said together: [Illustration] ‘Skip, mother, skip with us, Don’t hold us back and make a fuss, You look so young you’re surely able To jump with us upon the table, Then give a leap into the sink, Where you will find a cooling drink. Skip, mother, skip with us, Don’t hold us back and make a fuss.’ ‘And you call that poetry,’ said their mother. ‘I can do better than that.’ ‘Some day I’ll make better poetry than that,’ said Eben. And a few weeks later, when he was three months old, and Sally heard an evening song that he had made, she felt that the wish of her heart was to be granted at last, and that her little son was to be the companion she had longed for. ‘I’m thankful for my happy days, So full of work and pleasant plays, When Patty’s tail and mine we chase, And mother joins us in the race. I’m thankful for my long black fur, And mother says it pleases her. And for my eyes that see so far, And watch the moon and evening star. I love both sunshine and the rain That patters on the window-pane. I love the people living here. I think Elvira is a dear. Miss Harvey is just to my mind, And even Miss Winifred is kind. I love the world, I think it’s great, What kitten could want a better fate? I’m glad my months are only three With all of life ahead of me.’ ‘It might be better,’ said Sally, who did not believe in too much praise, ‘but it is a great improvement on “Skip, mother, skip with us.”’ Sally wondered if her son would be a famous poet, like his great-great-grandfather, William Furbush-Tailby, when he was a full-grown cat. She often wondered as to what the future of her children would be. Patty was so extremely bright and enterprising that she felt sure she would be able to look out for herself. And then, too, Sally thought her a beauty, for she looked exactly as she would have liked to look, with her round white face and beautiful eyes set far apart, and her tiger blanket and the tiger cap that covered the back of her head and came down over her forehead and looked as if it were parted like hair. But Eben, although slower, was a kitten of real distinction. She felt he might make his mark in the world. He was so absorbed in cat fights, even at his tender age, that he might be a great warrior, or he might become like his grandfather, a mighty hunter, for he sat for five minutes at a time before a mouse-hole.