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Kittyboy's Christmas-Amy Ella Blanchard · Mowgli - Stories from the Jungle Books

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Speaker 1: Chapter one of Kitty Boy's Christmas. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information are to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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Speaker 1: by Lynne Thompson. Kitty Boy's Christmas by Amy Ella Blanchard.
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Speaker 1: Chapter one. Kitty Boy was lost. It was an evident fact.
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Speaker 1: He stood on the corner of the alley which led
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Speaker 1: into a wide street to which he had been chased
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Speaker 1: by an aggressive dog, and with every hair bristling, looked
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Speaker 1: around for a friendly door, but they were all shut closely,
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Speaker 1: and the snow was beginning to fall in an uncertain way,
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Speaker 1: just a flake here and there, displaying exquisitely perfect crystals
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Speaker 1: on the stone steps and the brick pavement, then melting
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Speaker 1: away very slowly. Kittyboy tucked his four small paws neatly
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Speaker 1: under him, and crouched in a corner once in a while,
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Speaker 1: giving a plaintive little meal, which no one noticed, if
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Speaker 1: anyone heard. Yet, after all, Kitty Boy's losing of himself
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Speaker 1: was not such a dreadful thing, for he was always
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Speaker 1: being kicked aside as a troublesome beast, even before his
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Speaker 1: little mistress Annie Brady, was sent away to a home
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Speaker 1: being considered by her uncle's family in the light of
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Speaker 1: a nuisance quite as great as Kitty Boy himself. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: in spite of his rather unpleasant experiences in the world,
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Speaker 1: Kitty Boy was full of a happy confidence in humanity
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Speaker 1: scarcely to be expected. So presently, seeing a figure coming
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Speaker 1: up the street, he rose from his compact attitude and
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Speaker 1: ran along by the railing of an area, rubbing his
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Speaker 1: sides against the narrow bars, and finally followed the figure
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Speaker 1: up the broad steps. Then, as the latch key was
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Speaker 1: turned in the door, he saw his opportunity and slipped in.
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Speaker 1: It was rather late, eleven o'clock or more, and getting
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Speaker 1: colder every minute. The house was very quiet, no one
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Speaker 1: astir anywhere. A light, however, was burning in one room,
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Speaker 1: where a warm fire blazed in the open grate, the
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Speaker 1: sight of which so delighted Kitty Boy that he began
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Speaker 1: to purr contentedly. The light, now turned up showed more
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Speaker 1: distinctly what manner of person it was whom Kitty Boy
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Speaker 1: had followed. An elderly man with keen, sharp eyes. He
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Speaker 1: was somewhat portly, was well dressed, and brisk in his movements.
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Speaker 1: Kitty Boy's little black form, snuggled in one corner where
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Speaker 1: he sat blinking at the fire, was not noticed by
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Speaker 1: this other occupant of the room, who, lighting a cigar,
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Speaker 1: sat down by a table, stretched out his legs comfortably,
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Speaker 1: and unfolded the evening paper. Presently, the sharp sound of
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Speaker 1: a cold dropping on the polished hearth disturbed Kitty Boy's nap,
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Speaker 1: and he jumped up with visions of whips cracking over
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Speaker 1: his head, and gave a leap away from the fire.
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Speaker 1: The sharp noise also attracted the attention of the reader,
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Speaker 1: who looked over the top of his newspaper to see
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Speaker 1: four little furry feet daintily stepping across the rug. What
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Speaker 1: are you doing here? Get out, kat, came an exclamation,
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Speaker 1: in so much mild a language than that to which
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Speaker 1: Kitty Boy was accustomed, that he considered it in the
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Speaker 1: light of an overture, and springing up on the arm
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Speaker 1: of the chair in which this new acquaintance was sitting,
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Speaker 1: he proceeded to play with the newspaper, patting the two sides,
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Speaker 1: with ears very much forward and an alert look on
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Speaker 1: the wise little face, as if in momentary expectation of
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Speaker 1: seeing a mouse jump out from the folds of the sheet.
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Speaker 1: The very audacity of the performance tickled the man's fancy
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Speaker 1: you impudant little beast, he said, How did you get
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Speaker 1: in here anyhow? Aha? I know, I believe I saw
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Speaker 1: you as I came up the steps. You must have
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Speaker 1: slipped him behind me. But this will never do. You
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Speaker 1: will have to get out again. No hats allowed in
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Speaker 1: my house. For answer, Kitty Boy began to rub his
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Speaker 1: head against the arm nearest him, purring softly. The man
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Speaker 1: regarded him less severely. If I'm going to turn you out,
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Speaker 1: I may as well give you something to eat. You
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Speaker 1: are none too well fed, I see, he remarked, and rising,
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Speaker 1: he took his way to another room, where, after hunting around,
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Speaker 1: he found in the larder a pitcher of cream set
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Speaker 1: away by the housekeeper for her master's morning coffee. All
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Speaker 1: unconscious of bringing dismay to the worthy woman, doctor Brewster
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Speaker 1: emptied the contents of the picture in a saucer and
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Speaker 1: set it down, watching Kitty Boy eagerly lap up this
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Speaker 1: unexpected treat. Now you must go, said the doctor, and
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Speaker 1: Kitty Boy followed confidently at his heels, but The draft
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Speaker 1: of icy wind, which greeted him as the front door
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Speaker 1: was opened, caused the little fellow to scamper back to
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Speaker 1: the library, where before the open fire, he again sat
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Speaker 1: down and began complacently to wash his face. Back into
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Speaker 1: the room came Doctor Brewster, laughing in spite of himself.
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Speaker 1: You are a sly little rascal, he said, Come, come,
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Speaker 1: and he picked up the unresisting little creature, which cuddled
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Speaker 1: down comfortably in his arms, as if it were beyond
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Speaker 1: the bounds of possibility that a second attempt should be
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Speaker 1: made to put him out, And the good doctor actually
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Speaker 1: began to have compunctions. I always vowed I'd never have
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Speaker 1: a cat in the house, he said, under his breath,
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Speaker 1: Am I to give in at this late day? Well,
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Speaker 1: you audacious little wretch. I'll let you stay till morning.
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Speaker 1: It's too cold a night to turn any creature out
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Speaker 1: of doors. And kitty Boy's triumph was complete when he
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Speaker 1: was put down on the hearth rug and allowed to
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Speaker 1: continue his ablutions while the doctor resumed his paper. But
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Speaker 1: it's strange that the presence of the little black cat
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Speaker 1: could turn a sober man's interest from foreign news and
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Speaker 1: the quotations of the stock market, and that he should
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Speaker 1: have found himself dwelling on the memory of two little
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Speaker 1: eager faces which he had seen that day gazing into
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Speaker 1: a window decked out with Christmas toys. And furthermore that
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Speaker 1: twice he should have read over an item which went
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Speaker 1: as follows. Every year, about Christmas time, a number of
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Speaker 1: letters find their way to the post office. They are
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Speaker 1: variously addressed to Santa Claus, Chris Quingle or Saint Nicholas,
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Speaker 1: and are the outcome of childish faith. When is four
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Speaker 1: to wonder how often they must be followed by disappointment,
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Speaker 1: since there can appear no claimant for them. When the
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Speaker 1: next morning, at the sight of buckets and brooms brought
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Speaker 1: in by the housemaid, Kitty Boy scamped out, it was
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Speaker 1: to find refuge in the dining room, just as the
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Speaker 1: doctor opened the door to go to his breakfast. This
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Speaker 1: time Kitty Boy was not driven out, for the cheery
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Speaker 1: waitress said it brings good luck doctor, so to have
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Speaker 1: a cut come to the house, specially a black cat.
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Speaker 1: And by the time the doctor had finished indulgently feeding
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Speaker 1: Kitty Boy with bits from his own plate, and Kitty
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Speaker 1: Boy had responded by such antics as kept the doctor laughing.
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Speaker 1: It was an understood thing that the little cat was
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Speaker 1: fairly adopted into the family. The invasion of a common
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Speaker 1: little street cat into the bachelor's household quite scandalized the
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Speaker 1: good housekeeper, who could not get it out of her
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Speaker 1: head that kitty Boy had in some way purloined the creed,
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Speaker 1: But said the cheerful Maggie, it's far too quiet here
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Speaker 1: to suit me. And the doctor actually ate his breakfast
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Speaker 1: this morning without the paper at his elbow. I certainly
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Speaker 1: am glad to see some sort of a young creature
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Speaker 1: about the house. The housekeeper gave a sniff, but even
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Speaker 1: she smiled furtively a moment later at sight of kitty
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Speaker 1: Boy wildly chasing his tail, buttoning himself up well in
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Speaker 1: his overcoat, The doctor, after breakfast, took his way down
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Speaker 1: town and went straight to the city post office. He
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Speaker 1: did not stop as he passed through the long corridor
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Speaker 1: till he reached the private office of the postmaster himself. Hello, brewster,
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Speaker 1: what brings you here so early, questioned that worthy, looking
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Speaker 1: up from his desk. Haven't any complaints to make about
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Speaker 1: Uncle Sam's mail? Have? You? Don't be too hard on
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Speaker 1: us if things aren't just on time. There is a
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Speaker 1: great rush from now till after the holidays, and you
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Speaker 1: old bachelor's are so methodical that if a letter is
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Speaker 1: a minute and a quarter late, you think the entire
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Speaker 1: post office system is tottering. Sit down. No, I didn't
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Speaker 1: come to complain, Hardy. I came to see if I
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Speaker 1: could collect the mail for Santa Claus. Mister Hardy put
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Speaker 1: down his pen and stared at his visitor. What are
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Speaker 1: you driving at anyhow? He asked, Oh, I sees some
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Speaker 1: charity Christmas tree or something. How much will let me off? Doc?
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Speaker 1: The doctor smiled, I'm not on that errand at all.
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Speaker 1: I simply want to know if it is possible to
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Speaker 1: have any letters now lying in this office addressed to
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Speaker 1: Santa Claus delivered to me. Mister Hardy looked thoughtful for
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Speaker 1: a moment. Are there only such letters? He then asked.
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Speaker 1: The doctor felt in his pocket for the last evening's paper,
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Speaker 1: which he had taken the precaution to carry with him,
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Speaker 1: and silently pointed out the paragraph he had read the
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Speaker 1: night before. Mister Hardy nodded, understanding, I don't see why
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Speaker 1: you shouldn't have them, he replied, Finally, I'll get them
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Speaker 1: for you, doc, if it's possible, and leaving the office.
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Speaker 1: He presently returned with about half a dozen letters, which
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Speaker 1: he handed to his friend. There you are, he said, no,
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Speaker 1: only to ask what you're going to do with them.
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Speaker 1: It's just like the things you used to do when
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Speaker 1: we were lads. It takes me back to the old days.
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Speaker 1: When Christmas comes around. Come up and see us stock.
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Speaker 1: The latch string is always out, and he turned to
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Speaker 1: his desk. As the doctor with his budget left the room,
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Speaker 1: the latter went directly to his club and opened the funny,
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Speaker 1: smudgy little notes, some of them printed, some sprawled across
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Speaker 1: a wide page, some veried, zigzag and uncertain. Don't good
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Speaker 1: Santa Claus, forget our corner, read one twentieth and Pearl Street.
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Speaker 1: If you can't get down the chimney cause they are readyats,
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Speaker 1: come in the window. We'll leave it a little bit
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Speaker 1: open so you can hiss it easy. That youngster's all right,
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Speaker 1: nodded the daughter. I know the locality, and it's not
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Speaker 1: a doubt that his stocking will be well filled. The
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Speaker 1: next was printed, I'm a good girl, bring me the
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Speaker 1: doll fill once a bone narrow, But there was no address,
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Speaker 1: and this too was laid aside. Then came a queer, little,
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Speaker 1: half printed, half written epistle, Di Santa, I want a
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Speaker 1: new papa and a new kitten. Connie says kittens are
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Speaker 1: easy enough to get, but papas are much harder and
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Speaker 1: very expensive. And I don't want just any kitten please,
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Speaker 1: cause my dear Jollity was black, and all the kittens
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Speaker 1: this year are gray. If you have any black ones
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Speaker 1: to spare, please bring me one and a papa with
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Speaker 1: a red ribbon round its neck. Don't go to Grandpa's
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Speaker 1: at Fort Worth where we were last year, cause we
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Speaker 1: ain't there now and we are at six hundred and
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Speaker 1: ten West twelfth stut as the dog to read the signature.
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Speaker 1: A red flush mounted to his forehead, and he cast
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Speaker 1: a confused look around him. Then he slipped the letter
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Speaker 1: into his pocket, took two or three turns up and
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Speaker 1: down the room, and returned to his examination of the
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Speaker 1: rest of the mail. The last two letters were pitiful
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Speaker 1: appeals from homes of want and misery, timid little requests
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Speaker 1: full of childish faith, which made the doctor shake his
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Speaker 1: head and blink his eyes, frowning. The while these letters,
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Speaker 1: he also put aside, and then paced the floor in
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Speaker 1: deep thought. End of chapter one, chapter two of Kitty
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Speaker 1: Boy's Christmas by Amy Ella Blanchard. This slipprivox recording is
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Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Lynn Thompson, Chapter two.
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Speaker 1: It was high noon when he turned toward home. He
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Speaker 1: had forgotten all about Kitty Boy. But when the confident
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Speaker 1: little beastie came rubbing up against him, purring softly, the
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Speaker 1: doctor smiled as if a sudden thought had struck him,
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Speaker 1: and stooping down, he rubbed Kitty Boy's head, after which
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Speaker 1: performance the artful little creature rolled over on his back
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Speaker 1: and turned his gold colored eyes upon the doctor, inviting
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Speaker 1: a prolic Then up and away he scuddied, with arched
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Speaker 1: back and curved tail, the very embodiment of a witch's familiar.
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Speaker 1: You little imp of darkness, cried the doctor, Such capers
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Speaker 1: in the house of a sober bachelor. You'll be occupying
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Speaker 1: my bedroom next and calling it your own, a prediction
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Speaker 1: which speedily came true. For that very night. Kitty Boy
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Speaker 1: slyly crept up behind the doctor, and hiding himself, crafted
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Speaker 1: bided his time, and in the dead of night, stole
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Speaker 1: forth and curled himself up on the foot of the bed,
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Speaker 1: waking the doctor in the morning by licking his hand
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Speaker 1: with a red, rough little tongue, and then followed wild
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Speaker 1: frantic gambols, dancing and prancing over everything, coquettings with the
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Speaker 1: tattles of a dressing gown, tussels with a slipper, mocked
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Speaker 1: fears of a very innocent reflection in the glass, delicate
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Speaker 1: tiptoes about the dressing table with attempts to pry into
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Speaker 1: every box and draw, then one leap into the air,
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Speaker 1: and a waltzing after a little black tail, whose existence
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Speaker 1: Kitti Boy seemed only that moment to have discovered. All
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Speaker 1: this so entertained the doctor that he lay in bed,
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Speaker 1: shaking with laughter at the absurd antics, and went down
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Speaker 1: to breakfast with Kitty Boy on his shoulder. After this,
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Speaker 1: it was evident that Kitty Boy considered the second story
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Speaker 1: front bedroom as his own. To be sure, he generously
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Speaker 1: allowed Doctor Brewster to share it, to occupy the bed
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Speaker 1: if he were not in the middle of it, or
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Speaker 1: the doctor might sit in any comfortable chair for which
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Speaker 1: Kittiboy had no immediate use. But the lordly little creature
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Speaker 1: took possession so absolutely that The doctor's sense of humor
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Speaker 1: was greatly tickled by this overweening complacency and confidence, and
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Speaker 1: he meekly took another chair when Kittiboy occupied the better one,
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Speaker 1: or indeed moved over to the right side of the
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Speaker 1: bed if kitty Boy preferred the left. It was the
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Speaker 1: evening of the day which had seen the doctor at
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Speaker 1: the post office. It seemed to him that it had
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Speaker 1: been many more than twenty four hours since the sly
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Speaker 1: little cat had followed him indoors and had ingratiated himself
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Speaker 1: into the good man's favor. Already, the doctor was making
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Speaker 1: a common confident of this same little waif. What would
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Speaker 1: you do about it, you little limb of satan, he asked,
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Speaker 1: as he opened the letter he had so carefully put
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Speaker 1: aside that morning. Come you shall decide. Let us see
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Speaker 1: what sort of oracle you can make. You've started this anyhow,
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Speaker 1: as I remember. Now get me out of it if
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Speaker 1: you can. Kitty Boy winked soberly as the doctor thus
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Speaker 1: addressed him, but looked very wise, as if he knew
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Speaker 1: much more than he proposed to tell. The doctor softly
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Speaker 1: stroked the black fur, which was less rough than it
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Speaker 1: had been the day before. Shall I go or not?
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Speaker 1: He asked, You can advise, and then, like others in
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Speaker 1: the same position, I'll do as I choose. Here is
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Speaker 1: the letter. He shook it at the little creature, who
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Speaker 1: grabbed it in both paws, rolled over with it once
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Speaker 1: or twice, then taking it in his mouth. He jumped
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Speaker 1: down from the table and walked off with his prize
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Speaker 1: to the chair where a soft felt hat of the
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Speaker 1: doctor's was lying into this jumped kitty boy, letter and all,
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Speaker 1: and curling himself up, looked with a knowing wink at
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Speaker 1: the man who was watching him. Nothing could be plainer,
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Speaker 1: laughed the doctor. Go is the word? Pick up your
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Speaker 1: hat and its contents? You say here we are, take
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Speaker 1: us and go such wisdom for real out and out witchcraft.
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Speaker 1: Commend me to a black cat. Ah, kitty boy, it
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Speaker 1: is well you did not live in the time of
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Speaker 1: those old fellows. My ancestors, rustling Brewster and preserved Fish
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Speaker 1: and the rest or. We'd both be strung up for
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Speaker 1: practicing the black arts, although such names as they had
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Speaker 1: were enough to choke them without hanging. Well, my small wizard,
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Speaker 1: go it is since your suggestion suits my inclination. Who knows,
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Speaker 1: who knows? He sat absently stroking the little cat, who
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Speaker 1: had returned to the table, and it was evident that
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Speaker 1: something had given him food for deep and not altogether
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Speaker 1: unpleasant reflection. For the evening paper lay untouched, and the
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Speaker 1: open fire seemed to hold the man's fixed attention. Was
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Speaker 1: it Kitty Boy's sorceres that caused past events to rise
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Speaker 1: its flames from ashes, to add a new warmth to
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Speaker 1: a half chilled memory. The next morning, it was that
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Speaker 1: Doctor Booster turned his steps towards a quiet street in
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Speaker 1: a modest quarter of the city. An open square gave
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Speaker 1: a pleasant, airy appearance to the neighborhood. The sun was
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Speaker 1: shining brightly, but the air was frosty, and the doctor
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Speaker 1: stepped along briskly. His footsteps did not falter until he
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Speaker 1: reached the house six hundred and ten West twelfth Street,
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Speaker 1: and then for a moment he paused, taking off his
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Speaker 1: hat and wiping his brow, as if it were a
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Speaker 1: warm day. Immediately after, however, he mounted the steps with
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Speaker 1: a firm step and gave the bell a vigorous pull.
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Speaker 1: It was answered by a neat maid, who paused expectantly
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Speaker 1: for the card which the doctor did not produce. Tell
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Speaker 1: Missus Temple, a friend was used to see her? Was
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Speaker 1: his message. He was ushered into a small room which
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Speaker 1: was warm and cozy. A fire glowed in a Baltimore heater.
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Speaker 1: There were pretty tasteful articles scattered about, which gave the
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Speaker 1: room a cheerful, homelike look. The doctor picked up a
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Speaker 1: book from the table, put it down again, nervously, took
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Speaker 1: two or three turns up and down the floor, and
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Speaker 1: finally stationed himself with his hands behind him at one
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Speaker 1: of the windows, fixing his eyes upon the street. Presently,
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Speaker 1: some one entered, and a soft voice said, you wish
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Speaker 1: to see me? The doctor turned abruptly and held out
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Speaker 1: his hand to the tall, fair woman who stood before him. Eleanor,
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Speaker 1: he said. The color mounted to the lady's cheek, Doctor Brewster,
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Speaker 1: She faltered, How where did you learn of me? At
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Speaker 1: the club? Replied the doctor, gravely and truthfully. It is
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Speaker 1: truly good to see an old friend, continued Missus Temple.
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Speaker 1: You know you have heard. I know nothing but that
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Speaker 1: you are here, answered the doctor. My husband died two
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Speaker 1: years ago, went on, missus Temple. He was very good
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Speaker 1: to me, and he idolized our little daughter. Her eyes
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Speaker 1: dropped before the doctor's earnest gaze. But they had already
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Speaker 1: told that which the doctor had for so many years
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Speaker 1: longed to know. Whether, in marrying big, wealthy, dissipated Captain Temple,
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Speaker 1: Eleanor askedworth had pleased merely herself, or whether to spare
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Speaker 1: her father's good name, she had sacrificed her girlhood. He
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Speaker 1: drew in his breath quickly, and for a moment no
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Speaker 1: word was spoken between them, and your little girl, asked
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Speaker 1: the doctor, breaking the silence. She is with me here.
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Speaker 1: I lost two little ones in Texas, and Eleanor is
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Speaker 1: all I have left. I felt that for her sake
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Speaker 1: I must seek a different climate, and that is why
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Speaker 1: I am here. At that moment, the curtains before the
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Speaker 1: door parted, and a small figure appeared, A solemn face
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Speaker 1: little midget about six years old, clasping to her breast,
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Speaker 1: the battered doll stood before them. Come in, dear and
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Speaker 1: speak to the doctor, missus, Temple said, glad of an
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Speaker 1: interruption to a conversation, which was because embarrasson, the little
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Speaker 1: one advanced slowly till she stood by the doctor's side.
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Speaker 1: Must I put out my tongue she asked. The doctor smiled, No,
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Speaker 1: I think I wouldn't. It's pretty cold for even a
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Speaker 1: tongue to be out to day. The child laughed merrily.
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Speaker 1: I want to go and buy mamma a little bunch
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Speaker 1: of violets, but she said, I would freeze my nose off,
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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't be pretty without any nose, would I Then,
22:30
Speaker 1: glancing down at her dilapidated, noseless doll, she looked a
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Speaker 1: little abashed. Excuse me, lily, she said gravely. I didn't
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Speaker 1: mean to hurt your feelings. I love you just as
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Speaker 1: much as if you had as big a nose as
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Speaker 1: the doctor's. I didn't have any money in my bank anyhow,
22:49
Speaker 1: she continued, and mamma could not spare any five centses.
22:53
Speaker 1: You know we aren't rich any more. I spec the
22:56
Speaker 1: flowers are frozen up anyway, I'll get the violence for you,
23:01
Speaker 1: said the doctor, without looking at missus Temple. I know
23:04
Speaker 1: a nice, warm place where they live, and if you'll
23:07
Speaker 1: trust me, I think I can find some fresh, sweet ones.
23:11
Speaker 1: Eleanor clasped her hands. You are very nice, she assured him,
23:16
Speaker 1: And if you won't give me any nasty medicine, I'll
23:19
Speaker 1: love you very much. I promise no nasty medicine, agreed
23:24
Speaker 1: the doctor, and their friendship was sealed. So well did
23:29
Speaker 1: it proceed that when the doctor took his leave an
23:32
Speaker 1: hour later, Eleanor hugged him frantically, saying, doctor, come to morrow.
23:37
Speaker 1: I get so lonely, and so does Mamma. I wish
23:40
Speaker 1: you'd come every day. And the doctor's smile answered the suggestion.
23:47
Speaker 1: Mamma said the child, after the doctor had left them.
23:52
Speaker 1: Is that a very nice man, why, darling? Yes, of course,
23:57
Speaker 1: yes he is very nice, I thought so, she returned confidently.
24:03
Speaker 1: Is he very expensive? Oh you mean wealthy? I think
24:08
Speaker 1: so enough, so at all events? What funny questions? Why
24:13
Speaker 1: do you want to know? Just because I like to
24:16
Speaker 1: ask funny questions? Mamma? Do you like bread? Why you midget?
24:22
Speaker 1: You were just asking questions to tease your mother. You
24:25
Speaker 1: know I like bread. Eleanor laughed gleefully and looked down
24:30
Speaker 1: at her doll. Lily told me a secret today, she said,
24:34
Speaker 1: and he won't let me tell till Christmas. It's a
24:37
Speaker 1: very nice one. But I can't tell you, mamma very well,
24:42
Speaker 1: I will wait till Christmas. Don't you want to know it,
24:46
Speaker 1: the child asked anxiously, not if you don't want to
24:49
Speaker 1: tell it. But I do, only Lily won't let me. Mamma,
24:55
Speaker 1: this morning I was a kitten you were. I didn't
25:00
Speaker 1: discover it. I was. I had a red ribbon round
25:04
Speaker 1: my neck, and I was black, and Lily was Eleanor Temple,
25:08
Speaker 1: and she played with me. See where I scratched her?
25:12
Speaker 1: Do you want me to be a kitten for you, mamma?
25:15
Speaker 1: Not if you scratch, nor if you have to turn black.
25:20
Speaker 1: That amused Eleanor greatly. I doesn't have to. I just
25:24
Speaker 1: make believe Claus. Mamma, are you going to take me
25:27
Speaker 1: to church on Christmas? Why? Of course don't you want
25:32
Speaker 1: to go? I didn't last Sunday? It was so long.
25:37
Speaker 1: The man in the white gown said so much. I
25:40
Speaker 1: think he was a chatterbox. Why, Eleanor, what a thing
25:44
Speaker 1: to say about the good Rector. Well, mamma, it is
25:48
Speaker 1: what you say about me when I talk a long time,
25:51
Speaker 1: and you love me, missus Temple smiled. Then you don't
25:56
Speaker 1: want to go to church on Christmas? Oh? But I do.
26:01
Speaker 1: I like to hear the little boys sing, and I
26:03
Speaker 1: like to see the green things but you get tired
26:08
Speaker 1: sitting so long. Oh no, Mamma, I couldn't get tired.
26:12
Speaker 1: I get too much rested. I see, well, do we
26:17
Speaker 1: will go to the early service, which is not so long,
26:21
Speaker 1: and then come home and have the Santa Claus part
26:23
Speaker 1: of it for dessert. That will be nice. I wish
26:26
Speaker 1: the doctor would come soon. I want to ask him something.
26:31
Speaker 1: The doctor did come soon. Indeed, there was scarcely a
26:35
Speaker 1: day after this which did not see his stalwart form
26:38
Speaker 1: turning into the quiet street. And the affection between the
26:42
Speaker 1: grave man and the pretty child grew apace, so that
26:46
Speaker 1: many confidences passed between them. End of chapter two, Chapter
26:59
Speaker 1: three Kitty Boys Christmas by Amy Ella Blanchard. This LibriVox
27:04
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by Lynne Thompson.
27:09
Speaker 1: Chapter three, One afternoon, the two were cozily occupying one
27:14
Speaker 1: big chair in the absence of missus Temple, who was
27:17
Speaker 1: glad to leave her treasure so well satisfied to stay
27:20
Speaker 1: at home while she attended to some Christmas shopping. Let's
27:25
Speaker 1: talk about Christmas, said Eleanor, cuddling down by the side
27:29
Speaker 1: of the doctor and watching her mother out of sight.
27:33
Speaker 1: Isn't there a Santa Claus. She asked, So I've always
27:36
Speaker 1: been told there, I said, so Bill says there isn't.
27:42
Speaker 1: And who is Bill? Oh? A friend of mine, returned
27:46
Speaker 1: Eleanor jauntily. I should like to know something about him. Oh,
27:51
Speaker 1: he's just a boy with She clapped her hands over
27:54
Speaker 1: her mouth and looked with eyes full of laughter at
27:58
Speaker 1: the doctor. What oh, doctor, it isn't nice to make
28:02
Speaker 1: remarks about the dress of your friends, returned the little monkey,
28:06
Speaker 1: drawing down her mouth demurely and looking up mischievously from
28:11
Speaker 1: under her long lashes. Then suppose we don't mention his dress.
28:15
Speaker 1: Tell me something else about him. He has a very
28:19
Speaker 1: dirty face, said Eleanor with a little chuckle. He has
28:24
Speaker 1: that is unfortunate. Why doesn't he wash it? I reckon,
28:28
Speaker 1: cause he hasn't any soap or towels, but he can
28:32
Speaker 1: get water easily. Yes, But doctor, don't you know how
28:37
Speaker 1: horrid it is to have your face washed and to
28:39
Speaker 1: stand with it all dripping, specially in cold weather. And
28:43
Speaker 1: if you had no towel, you know you wouldn't want
28:45
Speaker 1: to wash your face either. Perhaps not. Well, Bill is
28:51
Speaker 1: a boy with a dirty face, is that all? Has
28:54
Speaker 1: he nothing else to boast of Yes, he has a
28:58
Speaker 1: sister named Gerty. She has a dirty face too. I
29:02
Speaker 1: never saw her because she's got the rickets, and her
29:05
Speaker 1: grandfather has had yellow jenders. But there is about gone.
29:10
Speaker 1: I think they must be rather pretty, don't you what?
29:13
Speaker 1: Why the yellow jenders? It sounds like some sort of
29:17
Speaker 1: a flower. I always think of what are the yellow
29:20
Speaker 1: things that come in the spring, the early ones, daffodils?
29:25
Speaker 1: Elena shook her head, not xactly, Mamma said they were
29:29
Speaker 1: about the same. Oh, john quills, Yes, that's it. Are
29:34
Speaker 1: they anything like that? Like what daffodils? No? Like yellow jenders?
29:40
Speaker 1: Are yellow john quills? Anything like them? No? I can't
29:45
Speaker 1: say that they are. Have you any at your house?
29:49
Speaker 1: The doctor laughed. Fortunately, no, I know of none nearer
29:54
Speaker 1: than a hospital. Oh do they grow in hospitals sometimes?
30:00
Speaker 1: Will you take me there and show them to me?
30:03
Speaker 1: I don't believe you would be particularly pleased to see
30:06
Speaker 1: any one with what Bill calls yellow janders? Why not?
30:11
Speaker 1: Because it is not a very pleasant disease to gaze upon?
30:15
Speaker 1: Is it a sickness? Oh? I'm so disappointed. I thought
30:20
Speaker 1: they were flowers, and I was so glad that old
30:23
Speaker 1: grandfather had them. That's a dreadful disappointment, she added, after
30:28
Speaker 1: a moment's silence. But you have not told me about Bill,
30:32
Speaker 1: The doctor reminded her. Where did you meet him at
30:35
Speaker 1: a party? No, contemptuously, I met him in the square.
30:41
Speaker 1: He sells violets, I reckon, that's why I thought his
30:44
Speaker 1: grandfather had flowers. Yellow Jander flowers is Bronicle's flowers. I
30:50
Speaker 1: never heard of them. Oh, dear, I suspect that's another disease.
30:54
Speaker 1: You see it for me to see Bill selling violets.
30:58
Speaker 1: I kind of thought he had a big garden, or
31:00
Speaker 1: his grandfather had. He said. His grandfather used to go
31:03
Speaker 1: out selling flowers till something got the matter, till his
31:06
Speaker 1: bronicles and they couldn't stand the east wind. The doctor
31:10
Speaker 1: laughed so heartily that Eleanor looked quite aggrieved. I'll not
31:14
Speaker 1: tell you anymore, she said. If you make fun of me,
31:17
Speaker 1: and I was going to tell you lots, oh please
31:21
Speaker 1: pardon my laughter. I'll try not to be so silly again.
31:24
Speaker 1: You see, I sometimes laugh at nothing at all. It's
31:27
Speaker 1: a habit I have formed from living alone. Eleanor looked
31:32
Speaker 1: at him very soberly. She wasn't quite sure whether this
31:36
Speaker 1: was earnest or not, but his being alone seemed a
31:39
Speaker 1: sufficient excuse, and moreover, appealed to her sympathies. So she
31:44
Speaker 1: took hold of one of her friend's big fingers and
31:47
Speaker 1: held it confidingly. Tell me truly, she said, Do you
31:51
Speaker 1: believe in Santa Claus? Most certainly? I think he is
31:56
Speaker 1: the greatest invention of any age. Oh good, that sounds
32:01
Speaker 1: so certain. Sure, that's what Connie says. I didn't make
32:05
Speaker 1: it up. I did make up something once you did.
32:09
Speaker 1: What was it? Uh? I don't know what to call it.
32:13
Speaker 1: I'll tell you and then you'll know. She nestled her
32:17
Speaker 1: golden head against the doctor's shoulder and looked up in
32:19
Speaker 1: his face. I was jumping in the cellar one day
32:23
Speaker 1: with Ida Miller, and I made a tree men just
32:26
Speaker 1: jump And I said, oh, Ida, I made a jump
32:29
Speaker 1: right smite the javelin. Don't you think that's fine? I
32:33
Speaker 1: have said it over lots of times because I like
32:35
Speaker 1: the way it sounds something like the Bible. You know,
32:39
Speaker 1: I think it is one of the most grandiloquent phrases
32:42
Speaker 1: I ever heard. You do not know how I admire it?
32:46
Speaker 1: Do you really? Yes? Really? And I'm glad I told you. Now,
32:51
Speaker 1: I'll tell you something else. It's a secret. But Lily said,
32:55
Speaker 1: I might tell you. She won't let me tell mama.
32:58
Speaker 1: It's about Bill. Do you want to hear it very much?
33:03
Speaker 1: And you won't tell no? Cross your heart, yes, cross
33:08
Speaker 1: my heart. Then it is this. Bill said, he didn't
33:12
Speaker 1: believe there wan't no Santa Claus. He said it just
33:15
Speaker 1: that way. She stopped and looked searchingly at the doctor,
33:18
Speaker 1: but he was listening attentively. She gave her little mirthful
33:22
Speaker 1: chuckle and went on. Then, I said, if you write
33:26
Speaker 1: to him and he brings you what you ask, I
33:28
Speaker 1: reckon you'll believe in him. And he said he'd be
33:31
Speaker 1: a blamed fool to do such a thing. He said,
33:34
Speaker 1: blamed fool, all right, he said, blamed fool. Eleanor buried
33:39
Speaker 1: her head in the doctor's sleeve and laughed silently. Then
33:42
Speaker 1: she looked up with eyes still full of mirth. That
33:45
Speaker 1: was so funny, She said, what was to hear you
33:50
Speaker 1: say blamed fool? Did you ever say it before? Perhaps?
33:55
Speaker 1: Don't you like to say it? I do. I go
33:58
Speaker 1: off in the corner and say it to Lily's sometimes,
34:00
Speaker 1: just because I like to hear myself. Do you do that?
34:05
Speaker 1: Go off by myself and say it to Lily. I
34:08
Speaker 1: haven't any Lily, no, of course, but you might say
34:12
Speaker 1: it just the same to a chair or anything. Mamma
34:17
Speaker 1: says it's not nice for a lady to say it,
34:19
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm doing it all I can now,
34:22
Speaker 1: because I'll be a lady someday and then I can't.
34:26
Speaker 1: There are lots of things that way. Anyhow, Bill said it,
34:29
Speaker 1: and I told him he was agnostic. That sounds like
34:34
Speaker 1: a dreadful word, but it isn't. For I heard Mama
34:37
Speaker 1: call somebody that, and I asked her what it meant,
34:39
Speaker 1: and she said it meant a person that doesn't believe.
34:43
Speaker 1: I thought it was scare Bill, but I think it
34:45
Speaker 1: has a scary sound, like the day of wrath. The
34:49
Speaker 1: doctor turned away his head, and, taking out his handkerchief,
34:52
Speaker 1: buried his face in it. A violent fit of coughing
34:55
Speaker 1: seemed to overtake him. Eleanor looked quite alarmed, but the
35:00
Speaker 1: doctor assured her it was only a small matter, and
35:03
Speaker 1: though very red in the face, he resumed a grave
35:05
Speaker 1: demeanor and asked for Eleanor to continue her tale. Well.
35:10
Speaker 1: She went on. Then Bill, I said, you're an agnostic,
35:16
Speaker 1: and he stared at me so hard. I don't like agnostics,
35:20
Speaker 1: I said, And he said, What'll I do about it?
35:23
Speaker 1: And I said, you write to Santa Claus, just like
35:27
Speaker 1: Oh my, I was going to tell such a precious secret.
35:30
Speaker 1: I won't, though, Anyhow, I made him promise he'd write
35:33
Speaker 1: to Santa Claus if i'd buy violets whenever I have
35:36
Speaker 1: any money in my bank. And he did write. And
35:41
Speaker 1: now I reckon he'll find out. He's real excited over it.
35:46
Speaker 1: And where does he live? Oh, back in a little
35:49
Speaker 1: street that runs squie eyed Connie says, across this. It's
35:52
Speaker 1: a horrid little street, and Mamma won't let me go there,
35:55
Speaker 1: but I know where it is. And where does Bill
35:58
Speaker 1: sell his violets? In the square by the fountain. He
36:03
Speaker 1: has beautiful red hair and the loveliest freckles you ever saw.
36:07
Speaker 1: I wish I had freckles and red hair, don't you.
36:10
Speaker 1: I can't say that. I do desire them greatly. And
36:14
Speaker 1: I'm sure I like you much better as you are,
36:17
Speaker 1: do you? Well? Maybe you do, but I don't. Do
36:21
Speaker 1: you think Santa Claus got Bill's letter? I hope you did,
36:25
Speaker 1: for it seems dreadful for anyone to have no Santa
36:27
Speaker 1: Claus and no Christmas. It makes me feel sorry inside,
36:31
Speaker 1: as if I had eaten too many cakes. Do you
36:34
Speaker 1: think he got it? That depends upon where he mailed it?
36:39
Speaker 1: Why in the post office box, of course, the one
36:42
Speaker 1: on the corner by the square that says US mail
36:44
Speaker 1: on it. What makes them turn it hind part before?
36:48
Speaker 1: Why don't they say mail us? It means the letters
36:52
Speaker 1: you put in, of course, so the man with the
36:54
Speaker 1: funny little wagon will know. The doctor frowned, then he laughed.
36:59
Speaker 1: It was such a funny translation of the US mail,
37:01
Speaker 1: but just such fantastic ideas he knew took possession of
37:05
Speaker 1: the child. That's all right, he said, Uncle Sam does
37:08
Speaker 1: put things wrong. End foremost. Sometimes you tell Bill that
37:13
Speaker 1: if he put his letter in the box, there's not
37:14
Speaker 1: the slightest doubt but that it will be answered. I
37:19
Speaker 1: saw him put it in. He showed it to me,
37:21
Speaker 1: and I went with him to mail it. He can
37:23
Speaker 1: write pretty well, for he went to school before that time.
37:27
Speaker 1: About about the Bronicles, you know, The doctor nodded understandingly.
37:33
Speaker 1: Do you believe Santa Claus will have enough turkeys to
37:35
Speaker 1: go around, Mamma says. If he hasn't, I may send
37:38
Speaker 1: Bill and Gerty some of mine. I'm going to try
37:41
Speaker 1: and eat a very little piece, but I like turkey,
37:44
Speaker 1: and I hope Bill and Gerty will have a whole
37:46
Speaker 1: one to themselves. And I hope Gerty will get a
37:49
Speaker 1: doll and if she doesn't, I'll have to send her
37:51
Speaker 1: the one Santa Claus brings me. Why would you have
37:55
Speaker 1: to Why because I wouldn't be such a piggy wiggy
37:58
Speaker 1: as to keep two, and she might not have. It
38:01
Speaker 1: wouldn't be nice of me when I have Lily. Could
38:04
Speaker 1: you have lots of things when you knew somebody else
38:06
Speaker 1: didn't have any? This was a home thrust made so
38:10
Speaker 1: truthfully and innocently that the doctor wondered why all these
38:14
Speaker 1: years Christmas Tide had not brought home to him such
38:17
Speaker 1: a reproach. He had eaten, drunken, been comfortable and care free,
38:22
Speaker 1: while just such opportunities had been waiting for him, as
38:25
Speaker 1: this year offered well, he said, as he took his departure.
38:31
Speaker 1: It's all right about Santa Claus. You tell Bill and
38:34
Speaker 1: you won't tell any one, whispered Eleanor. He assured her
38:39
Speaker 1: that the secret was safe, and went off with a
38:41
Speaker 1: very warm feeling inside. There seemed to be an expansiveness
38:45
Speaker 1: of light in the setting sun, a brightness about existence
38:49
Speaker 1: in general, which even cases of yellow janders and weak
38:52
Speaker 1: bronicles could not overshadow. End of chapter three, Chapter four
39:06
Speaker 1: of Kitty Boys Christmas by Amy Ella Blanchard. This LibriVox
39:11
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by Lynne Thompson.
39:16
Speaker 1: Chapter four. I must look after that family, mused the doctor.
39:22
Speaker 1: Bless the young things. A frolicsome kitten and a little
39:26
Speaker 1: earnest child full of faith and love of human kind
39:31
Speaker 1: can be wonderful factors in the matter of happiness. Strange
39:35
Speaker 1: how I have gone along missing both, and not knowing
39:38
Speaker 1: what I missed. Let me see, I'll send Hooper to
39:42
Speaker 1: look after grandfather's bronicles. He smiled broadly at the remembrance
39:47
Speaker 1: of the garbled world. I'd rather not have the little
39:50
Speaker 1: one know that I've a hand in it, and will
39:53
Speaker 1: be good for Hooper to try his hand at that
39:55
Speaker 1: sort of thing. Let me see if that youngster's letter
39:58
Speaker 1: reached its properness. He stopped and pulled out the packet
40:03
Speaker 1: he carried. Yes, there it was, signed Bill. The doctor
40:09
Speaker 1: stood and read the poor smudgy, misspelled little missive over,
40:13
Speaker 1: put it back in his pocket, and walked thoughtfully on,
40:17
Speaker 1: not knowing that at that very moment he was passing
40:20
Speaker 1: the writer, who, with his meager supply of one looking violets,
40:24
Speaker 1: was offering them for sale. Bill as little knew that
40:29
Speaker 1: the letter over which he had spent much thought and
40:32
Speaker 1: hard labor, was resting in the doctor's pocket, for he
40:35
Speaker 1: imagined it to be in the hands of a red nosed,
40:38
Speaker 1: white haired individual with a jolly countenance and a twinkling eye,
40:43
Speaker 1: such a one as could be seen more or less
40:46
Speaker 1: realistically represented in shop windows, a very different looking person, indeed,
40:52
Speaker 1: from this portly, prosperous appearing man with the keen eyes,
40:57
Speaker 1: who wore swagger clothes and didn't care nothing for poor cusses,
41:01
Speaker 1: or he'd ha brought something from a fellow. Bill's eye
41:05
Speaker 1: was roused by this kind of person, so indifferent and
41:08
Speaker 1: absent minded as never even to glance at the violets,
41:12
Speaker 1: nor give a regretful negative as some nice ladies did
41:16
Speaker 1: talk about. Old Santa Claus, muttered, Bill, if he is
41:20
Speaker 1: anybody at all. He ain't friends to nobody but rich folks.
41:23
Speaker 1: That's what I say. I ain't never heard from him,
41:26
Speaker 1: and I guess I ain't never going to. What's more, But,
41:30
Speaker 1: as if to chide his lack of faith, Eleanor herself
41:33
Speaker 1: appeared like a reproving angel at his side. Bill. She said,
41:38
Speaker 1: standing on tiptoe, that she might see the box cover
41:41
Speaker 1: in which the violets lay. Bill, have you sold lots
41:44
Speaker 1: to day? No? I ain't, he answered, rather crossly. Oh,
41:49
Speaker 1: then I can spend all these five senses. The doctor
41:52
Speaker 1: picked them all out of his pocket for me and
41:55
Speaker 1: told me to buy violets for mamma. So I have
41:58
Speaker 1: to ten five senses. See, I told Mamma I would
42:03
Speaker 1: come right back. She's watching out of the window for me.
42:07
Speaker 1: Bill's face took on a little sunshine ten bunches. Why
42:13
Speaker 1: it would nearly clean out his stock? What luck say?
42:18
Speaker 1: He said, in a low voice. Bout that Santa Claus.
42:21
Speaker 1: You know time's getting closed. Yes, said Eleanor, eagerly, holding
42:27
Speaker 1: out her hands to receive the violets. I don't believe
42:30
Speaker 1: he comes to poor folks, continued Bill. Mind, I don't
42:35
Speaker 1: say there ain't no Santa Claus. But I say he
42:37
Speaker 1: ain't no friend of folks what lives in Hitchin's court.
42:42
Speaker 1: Oh but he is. Dr Brewster said so, and he
42:47
Speaker 1: knows everything he does truly, And he told me to
42:51
Speaker 1: tell you that there was a Santa Claus, really really.
42:56
Speaker 1: Bill stared at the ground, and he said, if you
42:59
Speaker 1: put your letter in the box, Santa Claus will surely
43:02
Speaker 1: get it there and you will get an answer. So now,
43:06
Speaker 1: and she walked off with a little switch of her
43:08
Speaker 1: skirts and a decided sort of air, as she would say,
43:12
Speaker 1: there was no further doubt possible. Bill looked after her.
43:18
Speaker 1: Ten bunches of violets meant a corresponding amount of faith,
43:21
Speaker 1: and an hour later, an empty box lid went home
43:24
Speaker 1: with him. But the very fact of the emptiness of
43:27
Speaker 1: the box cover meant a fullness of belief. And Gerty,
43:32
Speaker 1: poor little Rickety Gerty also received a prop to her
43:35
Speaker 1: faltering hopes. In Bill's words, they are Sandy Claus girt
43:42
Speaker 1: sure as shooting a big bug. What I knows about says? So?
43:46
Speaker 1: Ain't you glad? Are you going to believe in him?
43:50
Speaker 1: Asked Gerty in an excited whisper. Yes, I am steadily
43:54
Speaker 1: returned Bill. So am I then I'm going to believe
43:59
Speaker 1: he'll bring me a doll and a a orange, and
44:04
Speaker 1: a a new frock and er a picture book and candy.
44:09
Speaker 1: And her whisper rose shrilly as she became more ambitious
44:14
Speaker 1: and a a turkey. The climax was reached, show said Bill, doubtfully,
44:21
Speaker 1: I don't believe he'll do all that. What's the use
44:24
Speaker 1: of believing at all if you don't believe he can
44:26
Speaker 1: do every bit, returned Gertie, who did not regard half
44:30
Speaker 1: measures with favor. I'm going to believe I'll get it
44:34
Speaker 1: all and more, she added, with an extra touch of
44:38
Speaker 1: defiance of fate. Bill looked at her half admiringly. Such
44:42
Speaker 1: temerity was beyond his mental stature, although given a proper
44:47
Speaker 1: field for physical valor, and he'd show no white feather,
44:51
Speaker 1: as various urchins in the neighborhood could testify. How long
44:55
Speaker 1: is it before Christmas? Asked Gertie? Three days? Ain't it
44:59
Speaker 1: about that, say, gert We ain't ask for nothing for
45:03
Speaker 1: grandpap in that letter? Why yes, we did. We asked
45:07
Speaker 1: for a doctor to cure his bronicles, don't you know?
45:11
Speaker 1: So we did how is he? I don't know. He's
45:15
Speaker 1: kind of yellow yet, and he can't eat much. A
45:18
Speaker 1: sharp rap at the door interrupted them, and a smiling
45:22
Speaker 1: young man entered to there, come in is this Bill,
45:27
Speaker 1: he asked? The boy nodded, your grandfather he's ill. Mum hum,
45:33
Speaker 1: returned Bill, looking suspiciously at the visitor's careful attire. Ah. Yes.
45:39
Speaker 1: The young man put up an eye glass and peered
45:42
Speaker 1: around the dingy rooms, Bill meantime eyeing him as much
45:46
Speaker 1: as to say, what business is it of yours? How
45:49
Speaker 1: we look? Could I see him? Queried the young man.
45:53
Speaker 1: I dunno see here? What do you want? I'll pay
45:57
Speaker 1: your rent? You needn't go badgering grandpapa bout it. The
46:01
Speaker 1: young man stared, bless me, my son, I don't want
46:05
Speaker 1: any rent. I'm he smiled, and whimsically took out his
46:09
Speaker 1: card case. Pardon me for not properly introducing myself. I
46:14
Speaker 1: am doctor Hooper, and I have been asked to call
46:17
Speaker 1: professionally on your grandfather by a friend of his. Huh.
46:22
Speaker 1: Bill gave voice to a low whistle and glanced at Gertie,
46:26
Speaker 1: who had taken the card with a funny little air
46:28
Speaker 1: of polite acceptance, and at a word from her brother,
46:33
Speaker 1: led the way into a hole of a room hardly
46:36
Speaker 1: more than a closet, where an old man lay. The
46:40
Speaker 1: doctor remained about fifteen or twenty minutes, and when he
46:43
Speaker 1: again came into the presence of the boy and his sister,
46:46
Speaker 1: he said, I think your grandfather will be better under
46:49
Speaker 1: my immediate care, and I will see that he is
46:52
Speaker 1: removed if if you don't object to a pleasant room
46:57
Speaker 1: in a pleasant place an hospital, queried Gerty. The young
47:02
Speaker 1: man nodded, say look here, he ain't go into no hospital,
47:07
Speaker 1: objected Bill. He is too, retorted Gertie, then turning to
47:11
Speaker 1: the doctor, you can take him. She gave the permission grandly.
47:16
Speaker 1: I know all about it, and Bill, don't I've seen
47:19
Speaker 1: one my son, said the doctor, addressing Bill, your sister
47:24
Speaker 1: is a person of unusual acumen. She she knows a
47:28
Speaker 1: good thing when she sees it. I give you my
47:31
Speaker 1: word that the friend of whom I spoke thoroughly approves
47:34
Speaker 1: of your grandfather's removal. And can't we see him, asked Bill,
47:39
Speaker 1: looking very dubious. Bless you, yes every day if you
47:43
Speaker 1: want to. And will you bring him back for Christmas?
47:47
Speaker 1: Asked Bill again. The doctor considered, if it is possible,
47:52
Speaker 1: at least I can promise you shall eat your Christmas
47:54
Speaker 1: dinner together. The two children exchanged glances. The answer implied
48:01
Speaker 1: that there was to be a Christmas dinner. I will
48:04
Speaker 1: come to morrow morning in my carriage for him, added
48:07
Speaker 1: the doctor, that is, if I may ye hear that
48:11
Speaker 1: Gert a carriage, ain't we swagger and Bill laughed. He
48:17
Speaker 1: followed the young doctor to the door and shut it
48:19
Speaker 1: after him. As he went outside, Plucking him by the sleeve,
48:23
Speaker 1: he asked, in a low tone, mister doctor, that's their friend.
48:27
Speaker 1: What sent you say? Honest? Now tell a fellows square?
48:32
Speaker 1: Was it Old Sandy Claus? The doctor hesitated, looked down
48:37
Speaker 1: at the earnest ugly little face, lighted up by a
48:41
Speaker 1: strong hope. Its dirt and unhealthy color but dimly described
48:45
Speaker 1: in the flaring light of the dingy court, and he
48:48
Speaker 1: felt a new concern for this gutter snipe with whom
48:52
Speaker 1: he had suddenly come in contact. He laughed softly and said, yes,
48:57
Speaker 1: you're about right, call him Santa Claus. Bill went in
49:02
Speaker 1: and shut the door very solemnly. Things were happening mysteriously,
49:07
Speaker 1: and he felt somewhat awed at what his experiences implied.
49:14
Speaker 1: End of chapter four, Chapter five of Kitty Boys Christmas
49:32
Speaker 1: by Amy La Blanchard. This LibriVox recording is in the
49:36
Speaker 1: public domain. Recording by Lynn Thompson. Chapter five. Doctor Brewster
49:43
Speaker 1: received a call from his young assistant that same evening.
49:47
Speaker 1: He entered with a bored, blase air into the doctor's
49:51
Speaker 1: study and stood staring and slapping his gloves together, as
49:55
Speaker 1: if he had not one single idea in his novel.
49:59
Speaker 1: Then he spoke, the old fellow in Hitchin's court, you know,
50:03
Speaker 1: beastly dirty hole, by the way, he needs looking after once,
50:08
Speaker 1: a sunny room and good nourishment and all that sort
50:10
Speaker 1: of thing. He'll get worse if he stays there. I'm
50:14
Speaker 1: going to take him to our hospital, if you don't
50:16
Speaker 1: mind take him, The doctor chuckled. The young man flushed, yes,
50:22
Speaker 1: by jove, I can't see an old fellow like that,
50:25
Speaker 1: don't you know, dying for want of a little attention. Now, Doctor,
50:30
Speaker 1: I'm no charity fiend, but I say, what are you
50:33
Speaker 1: chuckling about? At your past record in the matter of
50:37
Speaker 1: pet charities and your open expressions regarding those who have them.
50:42
Speaker 1: Go on sig, my, dear fellow, you said you'd take him.
50:46
Speaker 1: The young man flung off his overcoat, displaying his evening
50:50
Speaker 1: dress and the flower in his button hole. Yes, I said,
50:54
Speaker 1: take him in my carriage tomorrow morning. He looked up
50:59
Speaker 1: as if expecting protest. Bless you, man, I don't object
51:03
Speaker 1: if you don't, returned the older man. He's an old fraud,
51:07
Speaker 1: doubtless has no bronicles to speak of, and wouldn't know
51:12
Speaker 1: yaller Janders from Scarlet Fever. Where're you purpose placing him
51:17
Speaker 1: in the payward, said the young doctor defiantly. Doctor Brewster
51:21
Speaker 1: threw back his head and laughed. But I say, doctor,
51:25
Speaker 1: continued the other you ought to see him, such a
51:28
Speaker 1: pitiful looking, white haired old chap with those kids on
51:32
Speaker 1: his hands for years. I say, he's been handicapped, you know.
51:37
Speaker 1: And by jove, doctor, what did you send me there for?
51:41
Speaker 1: To see how you liked Hitchin's Court? The young man
51:45
Speaker 1: passed over the reply. I say it's a beastly shame.
51:49
Speaker 1: He went on, that old Chap is a better fellow
51:51
Speaker 1: than I am any day. I say, there's something wrong desperately,
51:57
Speaker 1: so I grant you with us. The young man looked
52:01
Speaker 1: up quickly. It's beastly, he repeated. Sig you're a huge joke,
52:07
Speaker 1: laughed the doctor. Go along with you and your paupers.
52:10
Speaker 1: By the way, what about the children, The young man
52:13
Speaker 1: smiled broadly. They are a pair. I believe that poor
52:17
Speaker 1: little wretch of a red headed snipe supports the family. Ah, Doctor,
52:22
Speaker 1: I say, we're nowhere with my Lord William. Such airs,
52:25
Speaker 1: bluffed me off. At first. He sat on the arm
52:29
Speaker 1: of the chair, swinging one foot thoughtfully. Doctor Brewster looked
52:33
Speaker 1: at him, young, good looking, rich, what the public called
52:38
Speaker 1: a howling swell, a die lettante in his profession, yet
52:42
Speaker 1: possessing ability, if but the proper motive stirred his impulses.
52:47
Speaker 1: He had been wont to maintain at half the world's
52:50
Speaker 1: poor while whining impostors and the other half incorrigible reprobates.
52:55
Speaker 1: The elder man watched him with a half smile. You'll
52:58
Speaker 1: take the old man nun, and I'll see to the
53:00
Speaker 1: young ones, he remarked. After a time, Sigourney Hooper slipped
53:06
Speaker 1: on their overcoat again. By the way, he said, they
53:09
Speaker 1: think Santa Claus sent me, and he gave a grin
53:12
Speaker 1: of amusement. Doctor Brewster looked grave, who is Santa Claus? Anyhow,
53:18
Speaker 1: he returned the embodiment of goodness, charity and kindly, feeling
53:23
Speaker 1: they were right, then replied Sir Goourny, holding out his hand,
53:27
Speaker 1: We'll have to give him a Christmas doctor, for I
53:29
Speaker 1: promise not to keep grandfather from the bosom of his
53:32
Speaker 1: family on that festive day Holy Moses festivities in that hole, ugh,
53:40
Speaker 1: Doctor Brewster sat smiling to himself, long after his visitor
53:43
Speaker 1: had departed. A wheel within a wheel, the repulse caused
53:48
Speaker 1: by the dropping of the smallest of pebbles, the movings
53:51
Speaker 1: towards a broad humanity set astir by the prattle of
53:55
Speaker 1: a child, by the instinctive appeal for warmth and protection
53:59
Speaker 1: made by a little hunted animal, the breath of the
54:03
Speaker 1: spirit on the face of the waters. He pondered over
54:07
Speaker 1: these mysterious forces, while Kitty Boy purred contentedly at his elbow.
54:13
Speaker 1: Kitty Boy fared well these days. He never failed to
54:16
Speaker 1: station himself by the doctor's chair at meal times, and
54:20
Speaker 1: was so indulged in a matter of titbits that his
54:23
Speaker 1: coat grew as sleek as satin. And if he had
54:26
Speaker 1: not been of such a very volatile temperament, it is
54:29
Speaker 1: quite likely that he would have become fat and lazy.
54:34
Speaker 1: The housekeeper confided to Maggie that something had made the
54:37
Speaker 1: doctor grow ten years younger, and the housemaid immediately attributed
54:42
Speaker 1: the fact to the presence of Kitty Boy. Certain it
54:45
Speaker 1: is that the doctor busied himself with many things to
54:48
Speaker 1: which he had heretofore seemed indifferent, and his sober establishment
54:53
Speaker 1: underwent all sorts of changes on account of the cat,
54:57
Speaker 1: said Maggie. A due physician who has retained just enough
55:02
Speaker 1: practice to keep him contented is rather an enviable individual.
55:07
Speaker 1: And doctor Brewster looked the picture of genial content as
55:11
Speaker 1: he stepped into his carriage on Christmas Eve. Just where
55:15
Speaker 1: he went was best known to his coachman, who had
55:18
Speaker 1: long ago learned the value of keeping his own counsel.
55:22
Speaker 1: But the faith in Santa Claus, which that evening justified,
55:26
Speaker 1: was felt in more than one wretched dwelling. Especially did
55:30
Speaker 1: two anxious little souls who had staked their last hope
55:33
Speaker 1: on the letter they had sent, feel that their mustard
55:36
Speaker 1: seed of belief had indeed grown to a gigantic size.
55:40
Speaker 1: When Hampers and bundles from Santa Claus were displayed to
55:43
Speaker 1: their glad and astonished eyes. Oh Bill, I said, I
55:48
Speaker 1: believed he'd bring all I wanted and more, cried Gerty,
55:52
Speaker 1: laughing and crying at the same time. And he did,
55:56
Speaker 1: he did. And Grandpap's gone to stay in next grand
56:00
Speaker 1: room and get well, and I'm going to get well.
56:03
Speaker 1: And we've a whole turkey, and Fixin's Bill, Fixin's I
56:07
Speaker 1: never said nothing about them, and Grandpap'll be here and
56:11
Speaker 1: help us eat it. And oh Bill, they are as
56:15
Speaker 1: sandy claws they are, Ain't they well? I should smile,
56:19
Speaker 1: replied Bill, surveying the bountiful supplies before him. And you'll
56:24
Speaker 1: tell that little girl first thing, won't you, said, Gertie, won't,
56:28
Speaker 1: I returned Bill, too happy for more speech, The doctor
56:32
Speaker 1: paced the floor a long time that night. He thought
56:35
Speaker 1: of many things, of the dreary dwellings he had that
56:39
Speaker 1: day seen, of the sorrowing poor, of the little it
56:43
Speaker 1: had taken to make a few hearts glad, And most
56:46
Speaker 1: of all he thought of little Eleanor Temple and her mother.
56:50
Speaker 1: He remembered a Christmas eve which had promised him a
56:53
Speaker 1: great joy, but which had brought him a great sorrow,
56:57
Speaker 1: the sorrow which he had kept locked in his heart
56:59
Speaker 1: for fifty long years. Not once had he faltered in
57:03
Speaker 1: his faith in the girl who had turned from the
57:05
Speaker 1: young physician just starting on his career and had married
57:09
Speaker 1: rollicking Captain Temple. Doctor Brewster smiled sadly as he remembered
57:15
Speaker 1: how Missus Temple had said, but the day before, we
57:18
Speaker 1: sometimes make errors of judgment, but if we err from
57:21
Speaker 1: a mistaken motive of unselfishness, we suffer just the same.
57:26
Speaker 1: And that had told the whole story. It was the
57:29
Speaker 1: only justification she had ever attempted, the only reference to
57:33
Speaker 1: what he knew she must have endured. But he had
57:37
Speaker 1: inadvertently heard many things during these past weeks. He had
57:41
Speaker 1: re read with fresh delight an old chapter in his life.
57:45
Speaker 1: He had opened his heart to the love of an
57:47
Speaker 1: innocent child. And the door being open, what else fair
57:51
Speaker 1: and beautiful might not find admittance. There was a rare
57:56
Speaker 1: exultation in the doctor's smile as the bells rang in
57:59
Speaker 1: the midnight hour and declared the promise of peace and
58:02
Speaker 1: good will. On Christmas morning, around Kitty Boy's neck was
58:07
Speaker 1: fastened by the doctor's own hand a bright red ribbon.
58:12
Speaker 1: Then he was placed in a basket and deposited upon
58:15
Speaker 1: the cushions of the doctor's carriage. With the basket in
58:19
Speaker 1: his hand, Doctor Brewster entered Missus Temple's cozy sitting room,
58:23
Speaker 1: where a hearty welcome awaited him. Eleanor has such a
58:27
Speaker 1: host of pretty things, said the child's mother, and yet
58:31
Speaker 1: she seems a little disappointed. She tells me there are
58:34
Speaker 1: two gifts she specially wanted, which Santa Claus did not
58:38
Speaker 1: bring her, But she will not tell me what they are.
58:42
Speaker 1: I think I know, returned the doctor, smiling, Come here, dot.
58:47
Speaker 1: Santa Claus asked me to bring your gifts to you
58:50
Speaker 1: because he could not trust any one else, and he
58:52
Speaker 1: knew I'd take better care of them than some others.
58:56
Speaker 1: Eleanor looked at him gravely from under her long lashes
59:00
Speaker 1: and watched eagerly while he uncovered the basket, from out
59:04
Speaker 1: of which jumped a sleek, black little kitten, who stretched
59:08
Speaker 1: himself comfortably, looking up with friendly eyes at the doctor.
59:13
Speaker 1: Oh my known jollity, cried Eleanor. Oh mamma, see, Oh
59:18
Speaker 1: isn't Santa Claus good? And she clasped kitty boy rapturously
59:23
Speaker 1: in her arms, and the other present. She said, laughing,
59:27
Speaker 1: you couldn't bring that in a basket. It is here,
59:31
Speaker 1: if mamma will let you keep it. And the doctor
59:34
Speaker 1: took the child on his knee, hiding his face in
59:38
Speaker 1: her curly locks. Tell mamma what it is, he whispered. Oh, mamma,
59:45
Speaker 1: cried the child. I wrote to Santa Claus and asked
59:49
Speaker 1: him for a new kitty and a new Papa. That
59:53
Speaker 1: was the secret Lily and I had. For a moment,
59:56
Speaker 1: she looked puzzled, and then a light broke over her
59:59
Speaker 1: face while she let the kitten go and clasped the
1:00:02
Speaker 1: doctor's neck closer, closer, And oh, mamma, she continued, when
1:00:09
Speaker 1: Santa Claus has sent me such a beautiful, expensive papa,
1:00:13
Speaker 1: you will let me keep him, won't you? And the mother,
1:00:17
Speaker 1: amid laughter and blushes, could not say her nay. End
1:00:23
Speaker 1: of chapter five, end of Kitty Boy's Christmas by amy
1:00:30
Speaker 1: Ella Blanchard