“What ails that cat?” said Cousin Ann, noting this pacing and restlessness.
“Maybe she wants Betsy to hold her kittens, too,” suggested Aunt Abigail.
“Oh, I’d love to!” said Betsy, spreading out her knees to make her lap bigger.
“But I want my own White-bib myself!” said Molly, looking up from the beads she was stringing.
“Well, maybe Eleanor would let you settle it that way,” said Cousin Ann.
The little girls ran over to the basket and brought back each her own kitten. Eleanor watched them anxiously, but as soon as they sat down she jumped up happily into Betsy’s lap and curled down close to little Graykin. This time she was completely satisfied, and her loud purring filled the room with a peaceable murmur.
“There, now you’re fixed for the winter,” said Aunt Abigail.
By and by, after Cousin Ann had popped some corn, old Shep got off the couch and came to stand by Betsy’s knee to get an occasional handful. Eleanor opened one eye, recognized a friend, and shut it sleepily. But the little kitten woke up in terrible alarm to see that hideous monster so near him, and prepared to sell his life dearly. He bristled up his ridiculous little tail, opened his absurd, little pink mouth in a soft, baby s‑s‑s‑, and struck savagely at old Shep’s good-natured face with a soft little paw. Betsy felt her heart overflow with amusement and pride in the intrepid little morsel. She burst into laughter, but she picked it up and held it lovingly close to her cheek. What fun it was going to be to see those kittens grow up!
Old Shep padded back softly to the couch, his toenails clicking on the floor, hoisted himself heavily up, and went to sleep. The kitten subsided into a ball again. Eleanor stirred and stretched in her sleep and laid her head in utter trust on her little mistress’s hand. After that Betsy moved the checkers only with her other hand.
In the intervals of the game, while Uncle Henry was pondering over his moves, the little girl looked down at her pets and listened absently to the keen autumnal wind that swept around the old house, shaking the shutters and rattling the windows. A stick of wood in the stove burned in two and fell together with a soft, whispering sound. The lamp cast a steady radiance on Uncle Henry bent seriously over the checkerboard, on Molly’s blooming, round cheeks and bright hair, on Aunt Abigail’s rosy, cheerful, wrinkled old face, and on Cousin Ann’s quiet, clear, dark eyes. …
That room was full to the brim of something beautiful, and Betsy knew what it was. Its name was Happiness.
Colophon
Understood Betsy
was published in 1916 by
Dorothy Canfield Fisher.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Sergio Tellez,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2004 by
Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks, and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans from the
Internet Archive.
The cover page is adapted from
Liela,
a painting completed in 1916 by
Alice Kent Stoddard.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.
The first edition of this ebook was released on
March 19, 2025, 7:55 p.m.
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