cats will just go with this house. It
was very thoughtful of that cat to have two black kittens ready for
us, and very kind of you to let them stay with you until we came."

"I? I abhor the whole tribe of cats!" cried the doctor. "Don't thank
my kindness: thank Mandy's idiocy, of which she has more than her
just share. To my mind, the best place for cats is under the grape
arbor."

"Let us strike a bargain. You keep your chickens in your own yard,
and we'll keep our cats in our own house."

"Compromise: you get a dog," suggested the doctor.

"Perhaps I may. I've always wanted a poodle."

"I said a _dog_!" said the doctor, lifting his lip. "A poodle! In
Hynds House! The lamented Sophronisba had a bloodhound."

"The lamented Sophronisba could have what she chose. This
Sophronisba prefers a poodle."

"_Sophronisba?_ What! Another one? Good God!" cried the doctor. "All
right! Get a poodle. Keep the cats. Get a parrot--and an orphan
with the itch--and a hyena--and a blunderbuss! _Her name is
Sophronisba_!--I--oh, Lord, where's Jelnik? I have got to go and
warn Jelnik!" And he made for the door.

At that Alicia laughed. Peal upon peal, like silver bells,
irrepressibly, infectiously, irresistibly, Alicia laughed. She cries
with her eyes open and her mouth shut, and she laughs with her eyes
shut and her mouth open. The effect is beyond all words enchanting.
The doctor paused in his headlong flight.

"All right: laugh!" he said, darkly. "But I shall warn Jelnik, none
the less!" And muttering: "_Sophronisba!_ Lord have mercy on us!
_Sophronisba!_" he departed hastily.

"What a nice neighbor!" commented Alicia. She added, musingly:
"Sophy, this is an enchanted place--a place where one has good
meals, bad advice, and black cats showered on one, free and gratis.
All one has to do is to stand still and take things as they come!"

"And hope one won't follow in the footsteps of one's predecessor,
who was an unmitigated old devil."

"At least," said Alicia, laughing, "_he_'ll never live to be an old
woman, will he, Sophy?"

"The man has the tact of a cannibal--"

"The shoulders of a Hercules--"

"An abominable temper--"

"And a beautiful beard. Somehow, Sophy, I rather approve of a beard,
on somebody his size. I decidedly approve of a beard!"

"If his miserable hens come over here, I shall most certainly--"

"Keep the eggs. We'll tell him so when he comes again."

"Comes again? What, and my name Sophronisba?"