Dick and His Cat and Other Tales Part 11

5. I could hardly crawl when I got on to the table-cloth. She saw it and placed me on a green laurel leaf outside. I sat there half dead, and yet I heard what they were all saying inside the summer-house.

6. "Lucy," said Rose to the little girl, "you would have been glad if you could have been lifted out like that poor fly, when you fell into the pond at home, would you not?

7. "You went to the bottom before any person came to help you. Were you in a great fright? How did you feel?"

8. "Why," said Lucy, "I was in a great fright when I first fell in, but after that I think that I must have been asleep, for I forgot it all. I knew nothing after my tumble down the bank, till I heard my mother near me.

9. "She was saying, 'G.o.d bless you, darling,' and then I found myself lying in bed."

"Ah," said her brother Tom, "Neptune, our dog, had a famous supper that night."

10. "Why?" asked a little boy, from the other end of the table.

"Oh, did you not know that it was Neptune who pulled my sister out of the water?" said Tom.

11. "He saw her go in, and without being told, he got her out. She would have been drowned without him. She had been told not to go near the pond, but she ran down to it, without leave, when no one was looking."

12. The other little girl here grew very red. "You need not have said that, Tom," said she. But Tom was a bit of a tease. He only laughed and said that his sister was always doing what she was told not.

_Write:_ Rose took the fly out of her gla.s.s. She put him on a leaf to get dry. Tom told them about his big dog. It saved the life of Lucy.

Questions: 1. What did Rose do for the fly in her gla.s.s? 2.

What did the dog do for Lucy? 3. What did Tom say that his dog could do? 4. What else would he bring out from the bottom? 5. What did Neptune have on the night when he saved Lucy's life?

9. GRANNY'S CAP ON FIRE.

1. I did not feel much desire to taste any food next morning. The long swim on the day before had taken away my wish for eating and drinking.

2. I nearly flew down to the flower which Rose had put in water, but I changed my mind. On the whole I prefer the smell of jam to that of roses.

3. I felt that a little walk would do me good, so I went round the tray once or twice, and then I tried to do the same thing on the tea-urn, but it was too hot for my feet.

4. I left that quickly enough, and after running across the toast on Mr. Sutton's plate, and crawling up his paper, only to be driven away, I went to the window.

5. Here I was so lucky as to meet a few of my friends, and we had a little dance in the sunshine, which quite brought back my health and spirits.

6. The day thus pa.s.sed by, and it was very warm indeed later on. After tea Mr. and Mrs. Sutton were seated in the drawing-room, one on each side of a little table, with a candle between them.

7. The old lady was knitting, and her husband was reading aloud the paper to her. I think he was reading to amuse himself more than his wife.

8. I could feel, as I sat on her cap, that her head was nodding now and then, as if she were dozing. Mr. Sutton at last saw this. And laying down the paper he said, two or three times, "You are sleepy, my dear."

9. Each time that he said this, granny woke up, sat very upright, and said, "Oh no, not at all, my love." But she went off again to sleep as soon as the reading began.

10. At length she was in so sound a nap that she did not notice when Mr. Sutton put down the paper, after reading a long, dull account of something or other.

11. He took off his gla.s.ses, laid them on the folded paper, and saying something to himself about resting his eyes, fell fast asleep too.

12. Granny's head now nodded lower and lower. First she gave a nod, and then her husband gave a bow, just as if they were being most polite to each other in their sleep.

13. Her cap was very near the wax candle once or twice, and there was a smell of burning. She now began to nod sideways, and each time that she did so there was a great smoke and a frizzling noise.

_Write:_ Rose went to spend the day with Lucy. The fly sat on the cap of the old lady. She fell asleep and the cap caught on fire.

Questions: 1. Where did Rose go? 2. Where did the fly stay?

3. What were Mr. and Mrs. Sutton doing that evening? 4. What did Mr. Sutton say when his wife's head nodded? 5. What did he do himself? 6. What happened to the old lady's cap?

10. A NARROW ESCAPE.

1. I was afraid of losing my perch, her nice white cap, on which I had now grown to feel quite at home. It seemed as if it were turning into ashes like those in the grate, and it felt too hot.

2. I flew up, for I could sit there no longer. And then I pitched on the top of Mr. Sutton's head, just in the bald place, and stamped with one foot as hard as I could.

3. I also ran about and tickled him a good deal. He woke up in a great hurry, for he raised his hand to drive me away, and in doing so, gave himself a smart tap.

4. This roused him. And he awoke just in time to save the cap and the hair of his wife from being in a blaze of fire.

5. "Dear, dear, dear!" said he. "Why, my love, what an escape you have had!"

"Nonsense, my dear," said the old lady, "I have not been asleep, I a.s.sure you." But it was of no use for her to say and think this.

6. There was the burnt cap on her head. "I was not quite asleep," said she. "Oh no, neither was I," said her husband, laughing.

7. And then, looking grave, he said, "You were in great danger though, my dear. I read only a day or two ago, of an old lady who had been burnt to death from setting her cap on fire."

8. I had been in great danger too, though no one seemed to think of that. What between the flames, and the knock that Mr. Sutton aimed at me, I might have been killed.

9. Thomas was now heard coming up the gravel walk. He had been sent to fetch Rose home. She was full of news to tell, about all the things she had seen and heard that day.

10. "It is a great mercy, my dear, that you have a bit of your granny left," said Mr. Sutton. "If it had not been for a fly, which tickled the top of my head, your granny's cap would have been on fire."

11. "Well, well, Mr. Sutton," said the old lady, who, somehow or other, did not seem to like hearing about the cap being on fire.

12. "You see here I am, without even being singed. And I was not half so sound asleep as you were, my dear. Depend upon it I am too old and too wise to let my cap catch fire."

13. Mr. Sutton did not say any more about the cap, since it seemed to vex his wife.

"Ah," said Rose, "if I had been at home you would not both have fallen asleep."

14. "That is very likely," said granny, smiling. "Well, and how did you enjoy yourself?" Rose said that she had been very happy.

15. She had seen Neptune dive, and she had been drenched by the shaking which the big doggie gave himself when he came out of the water.