Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/66

 "He's the boy to carry cats," whispered Laura to Owen, behind Aunt Julia's back. Borkman caught the buzz of the whisper, and for a second his eye gleamed with an odd suspicion. Then he repeated, amiably—"It's quite safe."

"The whole affair is absurd," said Aunt Julia. "We have too much stuff already. A cat is a—a beast."

There was no gainsaying this.

"And I foresee, Laura," she continued gloomily, "this will be like those white rabbits that you begged so for when you were little, and that I had afterwards to feed."

"Oh, Aunt Julia," laughed her niece, "what a memory you have! But it was only for a week.…"

Owen saw that this discussion tended beside the point.