"Henery Walker thanked 'im and went off 'ome doing a bit o' thinking; and
well he 'ad reason to. Everybody wanted one o' them kittens. Peter
Gubbins offered for to take two, and Mr. Bunnett told Henery Walker next
day that 'e could ha' found 'omes for 'em ten times over.

"'You've no idea wot fine, kind-'arted people they are in this village
when their 'arts are touched,' he ses, smiling at Henery. 'You ought to
'ave seen Mr. Jones's smile when I asked 'im to take one. It did me good
to see it. And I spoke to Mr. Chambers about drowning 'is kittens, and
he told me 'e hadn't slept a wink ever since. And he offered to take
your old cat to make up for it, if you was tired of keeping it.

"It was very 'ard on Henery Walker, I must say that. Other people was
getting the credit of bringing up 'is kittens, and more than that, they
used to ask Mr. Bunnett into their places to see 'ow the little dears was
a-getting on.

"Kindness to animals caused more unpleasantness in Claybury than anything
'ad ever done afore. There was hardly a man as 'ud speak civil to each
other, and the wimmen was a'most as bad. Cats and dogs and such-like
began to act as if the place belonged to 'em, and seven people stopped
Mr. Bunnett one day to tell 'im that Joe Parsons 'ad been putting down
rat-poison and killed five little baby rats and their mother.

"It was some time afore anybody knew that Bob Pretty 'ad got 'is eye on
that gold watch, and when they did they could 'ardly believe it. They
give Bob credit for too much sense to waste time over wot they knew 'e
couldn't get, but arter they 'ad heard one or two things they got
alarmed, and pretty near the whole village went up to see Mr. Bunnett and
tell 'im about Bob's true character. Mr. Bunnett couldn't believe 'em at