<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus017.png" width-obs="340" height-obs="127" alt="Two Kittens" title="Two Kittens" /></div>
<h2>A Silly Question</h2>
<div class='cap'>"HOW do you come to be white, when
all your brothers are tabby, my
dear?" Dolly asked her kitten. As she
spoke, she took it away from the ball it
was playing with, and held it up and looked
in its face as Alice did with the Red
Queen.</div>
<p>"I'll tell you, if you'll keep it a secret,
and not hold me so tight," the kitten answered.</p>
<p>Dolly was not surprised to hear the kitten
speak, for she had read her fairy books, as
all good children should, and she knew that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></SPAN></span>
all creatures answer if one only speaks to
them properly. So she held the kitten more
comfortably and the tale began.</p>
<p>"You must know, my dear Dolly," the
kitten began—and Dolly thought it dreadfully
familiar—"you must know that when
we were very small we all set out to seek
our fortunes."</p>
<p>"Why," interrupted Dolly, "you were all
born and brought up in our barn! I used
to see you every day."</p>
<p>"Quite so," said the kitten; "we sought
our fortune every night, and it turned out
to be mice, mostly. Well, one night I was
seeking mine, when I came to a hole in the
door that I had never noticed before. I
crept through it, and found myself in a
beautiful large room. It smelt delicious.
There was cheese there, and fish, and
cream, and mice, and milk. It was the
most lovely room you can think of."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>"There's no such room——" began
Dolly.</p>
<p>"Did I say there was?" asked the kitten.
"I only said I found myself there. Well,
I stayed there some time. It was the
happiest hour of my life. But, as I was
washing my face after one of the most
delicious herring's heads you ever tasted,
I noticed that on nails all round the room
were hung skins—and they were cat skins,"
it added slowly. "Well may you tremble!"</p>
<p>Dolly hadn't trembled. She had only
shaken the kitten to make it speak faster.</p>
<p>"Well, I stood there rooted to the
ground with horror; and then came a sort
of horrible scramble-rush, and a barking
and squeaking, and a terrible monster stood
before me. It was something like a dog
and something like a broom, something like
being thrown out of the larder by cook—I
can't describe it. It caught me up, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></SPAN></span>
in less than a moment it had hung my
tabby skin on a nail behind the door.</p>
<div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus018.png" width-obs="326" height-obs="444" alt=""I don't believe a word of it."" title=""I don't believe a word of it."" /> <span class="caption">"I don't believe a word of it."</span></div>
<p>"I crept out of that lovely fairyland a
cat without a skin. And that's how I came
to be white."</p>
<p>"I don't quite see——" began Dolly.</p>
<p>"No? Why, what would your mother
do if some one took off your dress, and hung
it on a nail where she could not get it?"</p>
<p>"Buy me another, I suppose."</p>
<p>"Exactly. But when my mother took
me to the cat-skin shop, they were, unfortunately,
quite out of tabby dresses in my
size, so I had to have a white one."</p>
<p>"I don't believe a word of it," said Dolly.</p>
<p>"No? Well, I'm sure it's as good a
story as you could expect in answer to such
a silly question."</p>
<p>"But you were always——"</p>
<p>"Oh, well!" said the kitten, showing its
claws, "if you know more about it than I<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></SPAN></span>
do, of course there's no more to be said.
Perhaps you could tell me why your hair
is brown?"</p>
<p>"I was born so, I believe," said Dolly
gently.</p>
<p>The kitten put its nose in the air.</p>
<p>"You've got no imagination," it said.</p>
<p>"But, Kitty, really and truly, without pretending,
you <i>were</i> born white, you know."</p>
<p>"If you know all about it, why did you
ask me? At any rate, you can't expect
me to remember whether I was born white
or not. I was too young to notice such
things."</p>
<p>"Now you are in fun," said poor Dolly,
bewildered.</p>
<p>The kitten bristled with indignation.</p>
<p>"What! you really don't believe me? I'll
never speak to you again," it said. And
it never has.</p>
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