But the new family of kittens were rather wretched-looking little things, and I sniffed over them a great deal, till mother told me that I myself had looked neither better nor worse than they did. I enjoyed helping to mind them, and often I was trusted to get into the basket and keep them warm while mother stretched her legs. A day or two after they were born mother said: 'I shall never have any more, so I mean to do my duty by these!' I think that meant she fancied she was going to die soon, and I have no doubt Auntie May knew it too, and told Mr. Fox so. Then Beatrice came to stay in London with us for a week, and she spoke to Auntie May very severely about Mr. Fox. 'May, you are a fool,' she said. 'I am fond of animals myself, but I shouldn't let them interfere with things of real importance.' 'It is unfortunate,' said Auntie May in a cold, horrid tone, 'that I should happen to fall in love with the only man I know who cannot be in the same room with a cat. It is too absurd. But what can I do?' 'Do, silly girl? Sell all this lot of kittens before you have time to get fond of them; leave Petronilla with Dad, and they can be the prop of each other's declining years--that is Dad's phrase, not mine, he said it to me only this morning--and I--yes, I will have Loki, and Tom shall take up every blessed trap on the place--I'll make him. There, will that suit you?' 'But I have got so used to having cats about. Must I be condemned to live without a cat for all the rest of my life?' 'May, I have no patience with you. You must give up something.' 'Why can't _he_ give up something, instead of me?' 'You may be quite sure he does give up something--heaps of things--to please you. He is willing to give up smoking--' 'Yes, it makes me sick. But why should any one mind cats? It is absurd that such a silly prejudice as that can't be got over.' 'Well really, if cats make _him_, and smoking makes _you_ sick, I consider it a very fair exchange. I say, look at Loki, now, I should take that kitten away from him if I were you, he is licking it to a pulp.' Auntie May got up and took the kitten away from me. I had worked very hard at it, and had made it quite wet. I thought I had done well. I know I took pains. I had got my paws round its neck to steady it, and it said nothing. I must say it looked rather shrunken and flattened out thin when they took it away, but I believe Beatrice only mentioned it, and objected to what I was doing to it, to change the conversation. She probably thought she had been going on at May too long. All this time I had never seen the blessed Mr. Fox who was upsetting us all so. I was kept carefully out of his way. Consequently I didn't see much of my mistress.