4.  The cat ran to it, and Harry went down on the floor close by to watch her drinking it.

5.  He saw that pussy’s tongue was not smooth like his own, but had tiny points all over it.  It came into his mind that she had once licked his face, and her tongue had a ‘scrapy’ feeling.

6.  ‘Do it again, pussy, dear,’ he said, but she went on lapping up the milk.

‘May I touch your tongue, then, with one of my fingers?’

7.  But pussy did not like this.  Then Harry took a drop or two of the milk into the palm of his hand.  And when the cat had taken all she had in the saucer, she came and licked up the milk in his hand.

8.  She went on licking even when all was gone, and Harry was able in this way to feel how rough her tongue was.

9.  Just then his mother came into the kitchen, and Harry told her what he had been doing.

She asked: 

‘Have you looked at pussy’s eyes?’

10.  ‘They are funny eyes,’ he said; ’they are green, but there is not much of them to be seen.’

‘Not just now,’ said his mother, ’but she can open them wide when she likes.  Then she can see even in the dark.’

11.  ‘In the dark, mother?  Well, she is not a bit like me!’

’No, she is not like you.  But she has plenty of cousins.  Her cousins are the big lions and tigers, that live in hot countries, and eat sheep and horses, and even people when they can get them.’

12.  Harry thought a little, and then said:  ’If I were as small as pussy is now, and if pussy were as big as I am now, I believe she would eat me!’

THE DOG.

fol’-lowed moth’-er hun’-gry lone’-ly win’-dow noise la’-zy be-cause’ watched friend bur’-ied e-nough’ Ber’-nard shep’-herd wrong talk’-ing

1.  A poor lost dog followed Harry and his little sister home from school, and tried to come into the house.

[Illustration]

2.  They shut the door; but, when they opened it again, the dog was still there.

3.  He looked so sad that they begged their mother to give him some food.  Then they said:  ’We can’t turn him out again to be hungry and lonely!  Let us keep him till some one comes for him.’  And very soon all three were happy at play in the garden.

4.  The cat sat up on a window-sill, and looked at them.  She did not seem to like the fun.  What a noise they all made!

5.  ‘How much nicer he is to play with than pussy!’ said Dora.  ’He is not nearly so lazy as pussy.

6.  ’Look, he is wagging his tail with joy!  Now, if pussy wags her tail, it means that she is cross.  But I think I like her round face better than his sharp one.’

7.  ‘I don’t,’ said Harry.  ’See how bright he is, and how he looks as if he would like to do something for us!’

8.  ‘That is because we have been kind to him.  Hi, good dog!’ and Dora threw her ball to the very end of the garden, and watched her new friend run after it.