Oh, DON'T
go--oh--oh, thank goodness it's only the boys!'
It was; and their entrance had awakened Anthea, who, with her
brothers, now crowded through the doorway. The man looked about
him like a rat looks round a trap.
'This is a friend of mine,' said Jane; 'he's just called in, and
he's going to milk the cow for us. ISN'T it good and kind of him?'
She winked at the others, and though they did not understand they
played up loyally.
'How do?' said Cyril, 'Very glad to meet you. Don't let us
interrupt the milking.'
'I shall 'ave a 'ead and a 'arf in the morning, and no bloomin'
error,' remarked the burglar; but he began to milk the cow.
Robert was winked at to stay and see that he did not leave off
milking or try to escape, and the others went to get things to put
the milk in; for it was now spurting and foaming in the wash-bowl,
and the cats had ceased from mewing and were crowding round the
cow, with expressions of hope and anticipation on their whiskered
faces.
'We can't get rid of any more cats,' said Cyril, as he and his
sisters piled a tray high with saucers and soup-plates and platters
and pie-dishes, 'the police nearly got us as it was. Not the same
one--a much stronger sort. He thought it really was a foundling
orphan we'd got.
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