Page:Oswald Bastable and Others - Nesbit.djvu/329

Rh 'How do you know it couldn't talk,' said the Cat; 'did you ask it?'

'No,' said the Princess. 'Well, then!' said the Cat. 'And as for wings, I needn't wear them if you'd rather I didn't.'

The Cat took off her wings, rolled them neatly up, like your father rolls his umbrella, tied them round with a piece of string, and put them in the left-hand corner drawer in the bureau.

'That's better,' said Everilda.

'And as for size,' said the Cat, 'if I stayed ordinary cat-size I shouldn't be any use to you. And I've come to be cook, companion, house-maid, nurse, professor, and everything else, so'

'Oh, don't,' said the Princess—'don't get any bigger.'

For while she was speaking the Cat had been growing steadily, and she was now about the size of a large leopard.

'Certainly not,' said the Cat obligingly; 'I'll stop at once.'

'I suppose,' said the Princess timidly, 'that you're magic?'

'Of course,'said the Cat; 'everything is, here. Don't you be afraid of me, now! Come along, my pet, time for bed.'