"Shan't I die!" commented Mrs. Whipp, continuing to stare with a
pertinacity equal to Rufus Carder's own. "I believe it. She looks like
an angel," she thought. Miss Mehitable watched her melting mood with
inward amusement.

"What a beautiful cat!" said Geraldine. "She's tame, isn't she? Will she
let you touch her?"

"Well," said Charlotte with a broader smile than had been seen on her
countenance for many a day, "I guess they don't have cats in the sky."
She lifted Pearl and bestowed her in Geraldine's arms.

The girl met the lazy, golden eyes rather timorously, but she took her.

"All the cats where--where I was--were wild--and no one--no one fed
them, you see."

"Well, this cat is named Pearl," said Miss Mehitable. "She's Charlotte's
jewel and you can bet she does get fed. How about us, Charlotte?" She
turned to the waiting table. "I want to give Miss Melody her supper and
put her to bed, and after she has slept twelve hours we'll get her to
tell us how it feels to fly. Thank Heaven, she's here with no broken
bones."

Meanwhile Ben Barry had reached home and made a rather formal toilet for
the evening meal. Even before his mother saw it, she knew she was going
to be disciplined. While the waitress remained in the room the young
man's gravity and meticulous politeness would have intimidated most
mothers with a conscience as guilty as Mrs. Barry's. She was forced to
raise her napkin several times, not to dry tears, but to conceal smiles
which would have been sure to add fuel to the flame.

She showed her temerity by soon dismissing the servant. Her son met her
twinkling eyes coldly. She leaned across the table toward him and
revealed the handsome teeth he had inherited.

"Now, Benny, don't be ridiculous," she said.

This beginning destroyed his completely. He arrived at his climax at
once.

"How could you be so heartless!" he exclaimed. "She had told me she
wanted you to love her. Your coldness shocked her."

This appeal, so pathetic to the speaker, caused Mrs. Barry again to
raise her napkin to her rebellious lips.

"I tell you," went on Ben heatedly, "she has been through so much that
the surprise and humiliation of your manner made her faint."

"Now, dear, be calm. Didn't I bring her to again? Didn't I do up her
hair--it's beautiful, but I like it better wound up, in company--didn't
I want to give her--"

"Do you suppose," interrupted Ben more hotly, "do you suppose she wasn't
conscious, and hurt, t