“That’s well done of you, Miss Norland,” Purity said.
“I am Diana,” the little girl said, then asked, “What is its name?” She was unable to stroke the cat while carefully cradling it with both arms.
“That’s for you to decide,” Purity said. “Neither of them have names yet.” But when her gaze found Matthew’s, he knew she was fibbing. She was giving the child an extra gift.
“Maybe Miss Diana can spend a little time thinking about it,” he said, imagining the names she might come up with in a hurry.
“Oh, no, Papa, they’ll tell me.”
“Will they?”
Diana laughed in her bubbly fashion.
He looked at Purity. “Did you know these cats can speak?”
“I did not,” Purity said, “but maybe Miss Norland... I mean, Diana knows more about this type of thing than we do.”
The little girl nodded emphatically and stared down at the kitten that was amazingly calm. Then she giggled.
Matthew looked at Purity, whose own face was filled with joy, and he wondered how he had become such a lucky man.
“That is a quiet puss,” he said. “Is it talking to you?”
“Yes, Papa. She is Miss Soft,” she said.
Matthew was glad the name wasn’t worse.
Diana kissed its head before plopping it into the basket and hauling out the other one.
“They have very tiny bones and are fragile, like your papa’s best dinnerware. Are you allowed to play with the fine porcelain dishes?” Purity asked.
His little girl shook her head.
“Because dishes might shatter,” Purity explained. “The kittens won’t shatter, but they can get hurt if they are dropped or squeezed too hard.”
Diana nodded, her eyes large in her attentive face.
“I’m glad you understand,” Purity said. “You’re a sensible girl. What is this one’s name?”
“Hm,”she said, rocking the green-eyed cat that was a little less docile than Miss Soft and trying to escape. “It is Miss Wriggles.”
Before his little girl could return the kitten to the basket, it jumped from her arms, hit the table, knocked over one of the teacups, and trod though the platter of sweets, managing to get a little cream cake on all four paws. Like lightning, it jumped to the ground from the low table, leaving a mess behind as well as sticky footprints, before running to the far end of the room.
Diana was laughing so hard, he thought she might collapse.
“Miss Wriggles, indeed,” Matthew said. “I suppose I should be glad the new sofa and chairs weren’t in place, lest Miss Wriggles get her grubby paws on them.”
But it didn’t truly matter because Purity was laughing, too, while trying to sop up the spilled tea with a napkin after making sure the doll was lifted to safety.
“I’ve always heard it’s a good thing to butter a cat’s paws before it goes out in order to keep it from running away,” she said, “but I’ve never heard of tea and cake being useful to keeping a cat.”
“I’ll find her,” Diana said and dashed from the room.
“I don’t believe Miss Wriggles left the room,” Matthew said, astonished that the little girl would think so.
Then they saw the cat race through the door after her.
“Now Miss Wriggles is going to find her instead.” He went to the door to make sure the nanny kept an eye on them both.
