CHAPTER XII.
BENNY.
Benny took possession of his kingdom, and ruled it with a firm, thoughfor the most part an indulgent hand. Miss Wealthy succumbed from thefirst moment, when he advanced boldly toward her, and laying a chubbyhand on her knee, said, "I like you. Is you' hair made of spoons? it isall silver."
Martha was his slave, and lay in wait for him at all hours withgingerbread-men and "cooky"-cows; while the two girls were nurses,playmates, and teachers by turns. Jeremiah wheeled him in thewheelbarrow, and suffered him to kick his shins, and might often be seensedately at work hoeing or raking, with the child sitting astride onhis shoulders, and drumming with sturdy heels against his breast. Onemember of the family alone resisted the sovereign charm of childhood;one alone held aloof in cold disdain, refusing to touch the little handor answer the piping voice. That one was Samuel Johnson. The greatDoctor was deeply offended at the introduction of this new element intothe household. He had not been consulted; he would have nothing to dowith it! So when Miss Wealthy introduced Benny to him the day after thechild arrived, and waited anxiously for an expression of his opinion,the Doctor put up his great back, expanded his tail till it looked likea revolving street-sweeper, and uttering an angry "Fsss! spt!" walkedaway in high dudgeon.
Benny was delighted. "Funny old kyat!" he cried, clapping his hands."Say 'Fsss' some more! Hi, ole kyat! I catch you."
Hildegarde caught him up in her arms as he was about to pursue theretiring dignitary, and Miss Wealthy looked deeply distressed.
"My dears, what shall we do?" she said. "This is very unfortunate. If Ihad thought the Doctor--but the little fellow is so sweet, I thought hewould be pleased and amused. We must try to keep them away from eachother. Or perhaps, if the little dear would try to propitiate theDoctor,--you have no idea how sensitive he is, and how he feels anythinglike disrespect,--if he were to _try_ to propitiate him, he might--"
"Vat ole kyat, He's too fat!"
shouted Benny, stamping his feet to emphasize the metre,--
"Vat ole kyat He's too fat! _He_ ought to go AND catch a rat!"
"Come, Benny!" said Hildegarde, hastily, as she caught a glare from theDoctor's yellow eyes that fairly frightened her. "Come out with me andget some flowers." And as they went she heard Miss Wealthy's voiceaddressing the great cat in humble and deprecatory tones. As she walkedabout in the garden holding the child's hand, Hildegarde tried toexplain to him that he must be very polite to Dr. Johnson, who was notat all a common cat, and should be treated with great respect.
But Benny's bump of reverence was small. "Huh!" he said. "_I_ isn't'fraid of kyats, sing-girl! You 's 'fraid, but I isn't. I had brownkitties, only I never seed 'em. Dr. Brown is a liar!" he added suddenly,with startling emphasis.
"Why, Benny!" cried Hildegarde. "What do you mean? You mustn't say suchthings, dear child."
"He _is_ a liar!" Benny maintained stoutly. "He said ve brown kittieswas in my froat. Vey wasn't; so he's a liar. P'r'aps he's 'fraid too,but I isn't."
For several days the greatest care was taken to keep Benny out of Dr.Johnson's way. When the imperious mew was heard at the dining-room doorafter dinner, the child was hurried through with the last spoonfuls ofhis pudding, and whisked away to the parlor before the cat was let in.Nor would Miss Wealthy herself go into the parlor when the Doctor hadfinished his dessert, till she was sure that Benny had been taken out ofdoors. Hildegarde was inclined to remonstrate at this course of action,but Miss Wealthy would not listen to her.
"My dear," she said, "it does not do to trifle with a character like theDoctor's. I tremble to think what he might do if once thoroughly rousedto anger. He is accustomed to respect, and demands it; and we mustremember, my dear, that even in the domestic cat lies dormant the spiritof the Royal Bengal Tiger. No, my dear Hildegarde, we are responsiblefor this child's life, and we must at any cost keep him out of theDoctor's way."
But fate, which rules both cats and tigers, had ordained otherwise. Oneday Hildegarde had gone out to the stable to give a message to Jeremiah,and had left Benny playing by the back door, where Martha had promisedto "have an eye to him" as she shelled the peas.
"'OH, SUCH A DEE OLE KITTY!'"]
On her return, Hildegarde found that the child had run round to thefront of the house; and she followed in that direction, led by the soundof his voice, which resounded loud and clear. Whom was he talking to?Hildegarde wondered. Rose was upstairs writing letters, and CousinWealthy was taking a nap. But now the words were plainly audible."Dee ole kitty! Oh, _such_ a dee ole kitty! Ole fat kyat, I lubby you."
Holding her breath, Hildegarde peeped round the corner of the house.There on the piazza, lay Dr. Johnson, fast asleep in the sunshine; andbeside him stood Benny, regarding him with affectionate satisfaction. "Iain't seed you for yever so long, ole fat kyat!" he continued; "wherehas you been? You is _so_ fat, you make a nice pillow for Benny. Bennygo to sleep with ole fat kyat for a pillow." And to Hildegarde's mingledhorror and amusement, the child curled himself up on the piazza floor,and deliberately laid his head on the broad black side of the sleepinglexicographer. The great cat opened his yellow eyes with a start, andturned his head to see "what thing upon his back had got." There was amoment of suspense. Hildegarde's first impulse was to rush forward andsnatch the child away; her second was to stand perfectly still. "_Dee_ole kitty!" murmured Benny, in dulcet tones. "P'ease don't move! Benny_so_ comfortable! Benny lubs his sweet ole pillow-kyat! Go to s'eepagain, dee ole kitty!"
The Doctor lay motionless. His eyes wandered over the little figure, thesmall hands nestled in his own thick fur, the rosy face which smiled athim with dauntless assurance. Who shall say what thoughts passed in thatmoment through the mind of the representative of the Royal Bengal Tiger?Presently his muscles relaxed. His magnificent tail, which had againexpanded to thrice its natural size, sank; he uttered a faint mew, andthe next moment a sound fell on Hildegarde's ear, like the distantmuttering of thunder, or the roll of the surf on a far-off sea-beach.Dr. Johnson was purring!
After this all was joy. The barriers were removed, and the child and thecat became inseparable companions. Miss Wealthy beamed with delight,and called upon the girls to observe how, in this most remarkableanimal, intellect had triumphed over the feline nature. She was even alittle jealous, when the Doctor forsook his hassock beside her chair togo and play at ball with Benny; but this was a passing feeling. Allagreed, however, that a line must be drawn somewhere; and when Bennydemanded to have his dinner on the floor with his "sweet ole kyat," fourheads were shaken at him quite severely, and he was told that cats weregood to play with, but not to eat with. In spite of which Rose washorrified, the next day, to find him crouched on all-fours, lapping fromone side of the Doctor's saucer, while he, purring like a Sound steamer,lapped on the other.
Benny did another thing one day. Oh, Benny did another thing! Rose wasteaching him his letters in the parlor, and he was putting them intometre, as he was apt to put everything,--
"_A_, B, _C_, D, _Fiddle_, diddle, _Yes_, I see!"
And with each emphasis he jumped up and down, as if to jolt the lettersinto his head.
"Try to stand still, Benny dear!" said gentle Rose.
But Benny said he couldn't remember them if he stood still. "_A_, B,_C_, D! _E_, F, _jiggle_ G!" This time he jumped backward, and flung hisarms about to illustrate the "jiggle;" and--and he knocked over thepeacock glass vase, and it fell on the marble hearth, and broke intofifty pieces. Oh! it was very dreadful. Mrs. Grahame had brought thepeacock vase from Paris to Miss Wealthy, and it was among her mostcherished trifles; shaped like a peacock, with outspread tail, andshining with beautiful iridescent tints of green and blue. Now it layin glittering fragments on the floor, and timid Rose felt as if she weretoo wicked to live, and wished she were back at the Farm, where therewere no vases, but only honest blue willow-ware.
At this very moment the door opened, and Miss Wealthy came
in. Roseshrank back for a moment behind the tall Japanese screen; not to concealherself, but to gather her strength together for the ordeal. Her longyears of illness had left her sensitive beyond description; and now,though she knew that she had done nothing, and that the child would meetonly the gentlest of plaintive reproofs, her heart was beating so hardthat she felt suffocated, her cheeks were crimson, her eyes suffusedwith tears. But Benny was equal to the emergency. His cheeks were veryred, too, and his eyes opened very wide; but he went straight up to MissWealthy and said in a clear, high-pitched voice,--
"I've broke vat glass fing which was a peacock. I'm sorry I broke vatglass fing which was a peacock. I shouldn't fink you would leave glassfings round for little boys to hit wiv veir little hands and break vem.You is old enough to know better van vat. I know you is old enough,'cause you' hair is all spoons, and people is old when veir hair isspoons,--I mean silver." Having said this with unfaltering voice, thechild suddenly and without the slightest warning burst into a loud roar,and cried and screamed and sobbed as if his heart would break.
Rose was at his side in an instant, and told the story of the accident.And Miss Wealthy, after one pathetic glance at the fragments of herfavorite ornament, fell to wiping the little fellow's eyes with her finecambric handkerchief, and telling him that it was "no matter! no matterat all, dear! Accidents _will_ happen, I suppose!" she added, turningto Rose with a sad little smile. "But, my dear, pray get the dust-pan atonce. The precious child might get a piece of glass into his foot, anddie of lockjaw."