"How long will you love me, I wonder?" she mused. Woolf drew her on to his knees. "So long as you look like you do now." "You mean so long as I’m pretty? Wouldn’t you love me if I looked like poor Mrs. Slightly? She’s losing her fur." "What’s the matter with Mrs. Slightly?" he asked. He did not care for Maggy’s mongrel pets, and his tone was not encouraging. It put Maggy on her guard. She had a premonition that it would be best to hide Mrs. Slightly’s secret until it could no longer be hidden. "I’m not quite sure," she said. "Where is she?" "I left her in the bathroom. I’ll get her. She hasn’t had her supper yet." She went out of the room. Woolf heard her calling the cat softly, then came a smothered exclamation, and she called to him eagerly, excitedly. "Oh, Fred! Fred! Come here! Come and _look_!" He followed her. She was standing before Mrs. Slightly’s basket. The cat was purring, its eyes half-shut, tired after the tremendous function of motherhood. Six little rat-like, squirming bodies lay against her own. "Six of them!" breathed Maggy triumphantly. "Aren’t they lovely! Wasn’t it worth going on the tiles for, Mrs. Dearest? The cat’s cradle is full, full!" Woolf disengaged her arm from his. "It’s disgusting," he said angrily. "You ought to have got rid of her before this, or—or kept her in. You can’t keep the kittens. They’ll have to be drowned." Maggy looked at him blankly. "Aren’t you pleased?" she asked, surprised. "Pleased! At a sight like that! Besides, you told me a lie. I won’t have lies. You must have known before you went to the theater that the cat had had kittens—" "I didn’t. Oh, how dare you say so! Do you think I’d have gone out and left her all these hours without any milk by her side if I’d guessed they were coming so soon?" She flew off, and came back with a saucer of bread and milk. She put it on the floor and went down on her hands and knees beside the newly-born animals. There was a rapt expression on her face. "I don’t think I’ll stop," said Woolf huffily, and moved to the door. He expected that she would call him back, but to his surprise she did not even look up. She was wholly absorbed with the natural phenomenon. For the first time in their intercourse she was oblivious of his presence. She did not even hear him go. She knelt entranced. At last a sigh broke from her. She became articulate. "Oh, you babies!" she whispered. "Oh, you little, little things!" XVI