against a starch-box more than half a dozen times, she would keep on
sliding feet first until she came down flat on her back and thumped her
head. The kitten went to sleep in the corner just as Carry put her down.

"Oh, dear!" sighed the little girl. "It's so lonely with cats and dolls
and things that can't talk!" And then she sat down in a corner by the
old wash-boiler, where she could see out of the open door, and took
Kitty into her lap.

The great fluffy clouds banked up higher and higher, and from being
white and dazzling they began to grow black at the edges; and the black
masses rolled up and up, until the sun was all hidden and the sky was
dark. Then came the rain, gently at first, in drops far apart, but soon
it fell faster and faster, and the little leaves on the currant-bushes
jumped up and down and seemed to enjoy the shower-bath. To Carry's great
delight, little streams began to creep over the path, now in separate
little trickles, and presently with sudden little darts into one
another, as they came to uneven places in the walk. She watched it all
with great wide eyes, and felt quiet and cool just to smell the damp
earth.

But soon the drops grew bigger, and all at once they weren't drops of
rain at all!

"Good gracious!" cried Carry. "Kittens,--little blind kittens! It'll
rain dogs next, I suppose!"

That's exactly what did happen; for down came puppies along with the
kittens. They squirmed and mewed and hissed and yelped, and all the time
kept growing bigger and bigger. Some came head first pawing the air as