It did
what you asked, but the wear and tear must have been awful. And
then last night--I don't blame you about the cats and the rats, for
those were its own choice; but what carpet could stand a heavy cow
hanging on to it at one corner?'
'I should think the cats and rats were worse,' said Robert, 'look
at all their claws.'
'Yes,' said the bird, 'eleven thousand nine hundred and forty of
them--I daresay you noticed? I should be surprised if these had
not left their mark.'
'Good gracious,' said Jane, sitting down suddenly on the floor, and
patting the edge of the carpet softly; 'do you mean it's WEARING OUT?'
'Its life with you has not been a luxurious one,' said the Phoenix.
'French mud twice. Sand of sunny shores twice. Soaking in
southern seas once. India once. Goodness knows where in Persia
once. musk-rat-land once. And once, wherever the cow came from.
Hold your carpet up to the light, and with cautious tenderness, if
YOU please.'
With cautious tenderness the boys held the carpet up to the light;
the girls looked, and a shiver of regret ran through them as they
saw how those eleven thoousand nine hundred and forty claws had run
through the carpet. It was full of little holes: there were some
large ones, and more than one thin
place.
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