THE HOME PUSSIES 267 



to talk it over in earnest. No time was to be lost, 

 for it was to be the next afternoon. So we sat down 

 and seriously considered the items of the bill of fare. 

 After some consultation, we decided that the basis 

 of it should be fish, so we sent for some fresh herrings, 

 and they were boiled and held in readiness. 



Meanwhile my little companion proposed to issue 

 cards of invitation, and said that she would write 

 them herself. I asked if she could do them in the 

 proper way, and as she was sure she could, I offered 

 no further suggestions, and waited to see what would 

 appear. So she found some scraps of writing-paper 

 and wrote the invitations, and we went round together 

 and presented them to the pussies, who duly purred 

 their acceptance. They were all indoors, as it was 

 wintry weather. 



Next dsij, early in the afternoon, we prepared the 

 feast. The invited guests were four grown pussies 

 and two kittens, so we got ready four large and two 

 small saucers. First a thick strip of fish was laid 

 right across each saucer ; an equal strip of cold 

 rice pudding met it transversely, forming a cross- 

 shaped figure that left four spaces in the angles. 

 Thick cream was poured into these spaces, and the 

 solid portion was decorated with tiny balls of butter, 

 one rather larger in the middle, and two smaller on 

 each of the rays. A reserve of fish and cream was 

 to be at hand to replenish the portions most quickly 

 exhausted. 



