Adam, Hoss, and Joe walked into the church just as Pete was telling everyone why the women had been so mean to Cat. When Reverend Long told Tommy and Billy to tell everyone what they had done and said, Tommy started, "It's all Cartwright's fault…" and was interrupted by Adam.

"Our sister has a name. Use it," he said with ice in his voice. "You are in God's house so try telling the truth for a change and stop blaming a little girl who is six years younger than you for your words and actions. Remember, God, your fathers and my family all know what you threatened to do to Cat and about the lies you told yesterday. Mrs. Thomas, my father has absolutely no intentions of marrying you or any of the other widows in this town. If he marries again, it will be to a woman he loves and who loves him, not his money. My family doesn't want any of you anywhere near Cat. You have hurt her too much already and we won't stand by and watch you hurt her even more. Consider yourselves warned. If Catherine gets hurt or worse because of your words and actions, we will ask the judge to impose the maximum sentence on you. Now boys, see if you can tell everyone the truth about what happened on Friday and why. Pete, thanks for the memories of my aunt's wedding. I had forgotten the things you mentioned. Hoss, Joe, let's go wait outside for Pa and Cat. I can't stand being in the same room as those 'fine' ladies any more. They make me sick."

When Ben and Cat returned to town, they left the horses at the livery and walked over to the church. Ben hugged Cat, gave one of her braids a playful tug and said, "Adam said that he apologized to you and asked you to forgive him. Have you forgiven him?"

"Yes."

"Are you planning to tell him?"

"Yes."

"When are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not until Thanksgiving or Christmas."

"Why are you waiting to tell him?"

"Because I want him to worry if I am or not."

Ben laughed. "You are a little scamp. I highly recommend that you tell him soon. Remember, Christmas is a little more than a month away and Santa Claus is watching. You don't want to end up on his naughty list, now do you?"

"No. That would be really, really, really bad. It would be worse than awful. I guess I'll tell Adam today."

"That's my girl. Now let's get over to the church so everyone will know that you're safe." Adam, Hoss, and Joe were waiting for them when they arrived at the church. "Will one of you please get the surrey? We're going home as soon as I let our friends know that Cat is safe." Adam pulled Ben aside and told him what Mrs. Thomas had said and what he had said to the women. "Thank you son. I don't know where that woman got the idea I was going to propose marriage to her. I don't even like her and can barely stand being in the same room with her for more than a few minutes. Come on Cat. Let's go tell our friends that you're safe and then we're going home." They walked into the church and Ben picked Cat up and hugged her in front of everyone.

"He shouldn't be carrying that child," said Mrs. Warren to Mrs. Anders. "There's nothing wrong with her legs, she should be walking."

"As everyone can see," said Ben. "I found my daughter and she's fine. For your information Mrs. Warren, it has been many years since I was able to pick any of my sons up, hold and hug them, which is something I loved to do, and I intend to do this as often as I can with Catherine until she gets too big. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a parent holding and hugging their children." He put Cat down & told her to go outside with her brothers. "My family and I are going home now. I do not wish to spend any more time than necessary in the same room as adults who can be so cruel to a child. If there was another church in Virginia City, we would attend it so as not to expose Catherine to any more of your ridiculous notions and finger pointing. Since you have very short memories and chose to believe two children who said cruel things to try and cause trouble for another child, here's something to think about. My sister was married in May of 1858 and her daughter was born in June of 1860, so do the mathematics and figure out how long Catherine's parents had been married before she was born. If you have trouble with the mathematics, I am quite certain that most of the children will be more than happy to tell you the answer. Reverend Long can tell you exactly what book in the Bible this is from but when people were going to stone a prostitute, Jesus said that the one who was without sin should cast the first stone. Remember this, when you are pointing a finger at someone else, there are four fingers pointing back at you." He walked outside and got in the surrey. Just as he was about to hand the reins to Cat, Jerry from the telegraph office ran up.

"Mr. Cartwright, I'm glad I caught you. This telegram just came in."

Ben read the telegram, put it in his pocket, wrote his reply on the envelope and handed it back to Jerry with some money. "Thank you Jerry. I appreciate you running over here to give this to me. Have a good day and we'll see you tomorrow."

When they arrived back home, Hop Sing had dinner waiting for them. "I already clean downstairs bedroom and put clean sheets on bed. Upstairs guest room still need to be done."

"Thank you Hop Sing. I don't know what we would ever do without you. Hoss, if you'll take the rug outside and beat it after dinner, Adam and Joe can put fresh sheets on the bed, Cat can dust and I'll mop the floor. With five of us working, it will hardly take any time at all to prepare the room and then the five of us can go fishing for a while. Cat, I'll make the same bet that Adam had with you. If you catch more fish than me, I'll do your chores for a week, so you'll have four weeks without having to do any chores. If I catch more fish than you, you have to groom Buck for a week."

"Four whole weeks with no chores. Let's go."

Everyone laughed at how excited Cat was. "Hold on little one," laughed Ben. You need to finish your dinner and we have to get that bedroom ship shape before we can go fishing."

"I'll eat while I'm dusting. I want to go fishing."

"Not so fast my little Wild Cat. Unless you are sick or too badly hurt to get out of bed, meals are eaten here at the table, not in bedrooms. Now sit down and finish your dinner or you will stay here and help Hop Sing instead of going fishing." With all five Cartwrights working, the bedroom was ready for Captain Stoddard and they were on their way to Lake Tahoe in no time at all. Cat's puppies ran alongside the horses until they were about half way to the lake. Then Joe put them in their pouches on Cat's saddle. While they were fishing, Joe wanted to make sure that Cat won the bet with their father so when he thought nobody was watching, he put two of the fish from his stringer onto Cat's. At the end of the day, Cat had one more fish on her stringer than Ben did. He hugged her and said, "Well my little Wild Cat, it appears that you are the champion fish catcher this time. You had better watch out next time because I will find a way to catch more fish than you, even if I have to come out here and tell them not to bite your hook." Then he looked toward the mountains and said, "It looks like we will have some snow for Thanksgiving."

"How can you tell?" asked Cat.

Hoss picked her up and said, "Look at the mountains. Do ya see how far down the snow is on them and do ya see that big cloud over them? That cloud means it's snowing an' the snow is far enough down that ifn it keeps snowin' the way it was, we'll have snow by Thanksgiving. It probably won' be a lot but it shore will make everything look right pretty with silver dust on it."

"Can I stay out here and watch it snow on the mountains?"

"I'm afraid not Squirt," said Adam taking her from Hoss and putting her in her saddle. "Hop Sing would kill us if we came home without you. He might even follow through on one of his threats to go back to China. Poor Hoss would probably die if he had to miss a meal. Now you wouldn't want that to happen, now would you?"

"No, I guess not. I would miss him if he did that."

"Well then, you need to go home with us. Besides that, my grandfather will be here tomorrow and he's looking forward to meeting you. I know you wouldn't want to disappoint him, now would you?"

"I guess not. Maybe I should just go back to Dodge while he's here. He probably won't like me very much."

"Now you're being silly. Grandfather Stoddard is going to love you. I lived with him while I was in college and he told me a lot of stories about my mother when she was young. From what I remember of his stories, you are a lot like her, so I'm quite sure he will love you a lot. We have a lot of fish to clean and if we don't hurry, Hop Sing will be angry because we're late for supper. If we are and he yells at us, I'm going to tell him it's your fault we're late."

Cat stuck her tongue out at Adam and then asked, "Pa?"

"Yes Kitten?"

"Will I have to go to school when it snows?"

"That depends on how hard it's snowing and how much snow is on the ground. When the snow gets deep, none of the children who live this far from town attend school. When that happens, Adam will teach you at home."

"You had better hope you're not out of school too long little sister," said Joe. "Adam is a very mean teacher. He never gave me any breaks and I had to eat dinner while I was doing my lessons. He made me do more work in a day than Miss Jones did in a week."

"That's because you weren't working up to your full potential," replied Adam.

"Then how come the only time you did that to me is when Pa wasn't home?"

"Adam, Joseph, that is enough!" Ben ended the argument before it got worse. "Joseph, why didn't you tell me about that when I returned home?"

"I tried but Adam got to you first and told you I wouldn't listen to him. You always believed him and punished me."

"I'm sorry that happened to you and that I didn't believe you. I guarantee that will not happen with Catherine. Adam, you were wrong to treat your brother that way and you will not treat your sister like that. You cannot expect a young child to perform like a college student. Now let's get these fish home, cleaned and put into the smoke house."

While the family was eating supper, Ben said, "Someone is going to need to drive the buckboard to town tomorrow. The telegram I received was from Adam's grandfather. He will definitely be here on the afternoon stage tomorrow and has a trunk as well as several other bags. There isn't room on the surrey for all of that luggage, so we will need the buckboard."

"I'll drive it," said Cat.

"That's an awful long way to drive it alone Kitten," replied Ben.

"But I won't be alone for long. Just until I get to the road that goes to Mike's ranch. He'll be with me then and we meet Jas about half way to town. They'll help me unhitch the team and harness it back up after school. Don't worry, I won't drive too fast."

Ben thought for a minute and then said, "Alright Cat. You may drive the buckboard to school tomorrow. I know that Michael and Jasper will not let you go too fast and they'll help you if you run into trouble."

Adam had a feeling that Cat was still a bit upset over what had happened at church that morning so when Ben told Cat it was time for bed, Joe started to go upstairs with her and Adam asked, "Aren't you done reading King Arthur yet?"

"Yes. We finished last night and were going to pick out a new book to start tonight."

"Well then, it's my turn to play with the Cat."

Joe had an idea of where Adam was going with his conversation so he decided to play along. "No. She's my Cat and you can't have her."

"You have to share and can't keep her all to yourself."

"I said no. She was my birthday present and I'm not going to let you have her."

Cat giggled at her brothers pretending to argue over her.

"Pa, Joe won't share the Cat. He's had her for an entire book and now it's my turn."

Ben chuckled to himself at his eldest and youngest sons pretending to argue over their sister. "Joseph, I have told you many times that you have to share with your brothers. Now let Adam have your Cat for a while."

"Why should I? He won't share his horse with me."

"You have your own horse. However, we only have one Cat and even though she was your birthday present, you still have to share her with the rest of the family. Adam isn't going to hurt her so let him have her."

Joe pretended to grumble and finally said, "Alright, you can have her for a little while but if you do anything to make her mad, I'm taking her back."

Adam walked upstairs with Cat and waited outside her door while she changed into her nightgown. When she opened the door, he walked in and said, "We need to pick out a new book to read. I see one you might like." He took a book off its shelf and handed it to Cat who read the title.

"One Thousand and One Nights. What's it all about?"

"We'll have to read it to find out, but I'll tell you the story about how this book came to be written. Many, many years ago, after finding out that his first wife was unfaithful, the Sultan of Shahrayar kills her and swears to marry a different woman each night before killing her the following morning to prevent further betrayal. Scheherazade, his vizier's daughter, comes up with a plan to end this pattern. She marries Shahrayar, and then begins to tell him a story that night. However, she stops the story in the middle, so that he will be excited to hear the rest the following night. The next evening, she finishes that story and then begins another, following the same pattern for one thousand one nights, until Shahrayar has a change of heart. The stories she tells make up the book. Now it's not going to take us that many nights to read it because this is the first of three volumes and there are less than one thousand pages in it. We'll read volumes two and three some other time so you don't get bored with it."

Cat got into bed and her puppies jumped up there too. Adam pulled his boots off and sat next to her. "Adam?"

"Yes Cat?"

"I just wanted you to know that I forgive you for what you did on Friday."

Adam hugged her. "Thank you little sister. That means a lot to me. I meant what I said when I promised to try not to ever do that again." They read two chapters and when Ben went upstairs to say goodnight to Cat and tuck her in, Adam looked at Joe and said, "I saw what you did with your fish. That was very sneaky little brother. Sneaky but cute. I may have been tempted to do the same thing if I had been sitting next to Cat."

"You're not going to tell Pa, are you?"

"No Joe I'm not. Like I said, it was cute and I might have done the same thing myself. Besides that, it's going to be fun watching Pa do Cat's chores for a week."

"You won't tell Pa, will you Hoss?"

"Of course not Shortshanks. I woulda done the same thing myself ifn I had been sittin' next to little sister."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"We're not doing it for you Joe," teased Adam. "We're doing it for Cat."

Hoss hitched a team to the buckboard after breakfast and Cat set off for school, feeling very grown up at being allowed to drive the wagon without an adult being along. She met Mike Devlin at the road leading to his family's ranch. "Hi Cat. How come you're driving the buckboard instead of riding your horse?"

"Adam's grandfather is coming in on the afternoon stage. Pa said someone needed to take the buckboard to town because he had too much luggage to put in the surrey. So I said I would drive it in. Pa didn't want to let me 'cause I was going to be alone but I told him that you and Jas would be with me so he said I could."

"That's great. You drive and I'll help you hold the team if something spooks them." They met Jasper about half way to town and told him the same thing Cat had told Mike. When they reached the school, even the older children were impressed that Cat had been allowed to drive the wagon to town without an adult.

The stage arrived on time and when Abel Stoddard emerged, Adam tried to shake hands with his grandfather but found himself being pulled into an embrace. After greeting the rest of the Cartwright men, Abel looked around and asked Ben, "And where are you hiding my granddaughter? I expected to see her here when I got off the stage."

"She's in school. The students should be dismissed shortly. Let's get your luggage off the stage. Catherine should be here soon."

Cat drove up in the buckboard about five minutes later. Captain Stoddard was amazed to see a nine year old girl dressed in buckskins and driving the wagon. She ran up to Ben and said excitedly, "You should have seen the kids at school this morning. Even the big kids were really jealous when they saw me driving the buckboard this morning."

Ben laughed, hugged her and said, "There's someone here you need to meet." They walked up to Adam's grandfather and Ben introduced them. "Cat, this is Adam's grandfather, Captain Stoddard. Abel, this is my daughter Catherine."

"Hello Captain Stoddard. It's nice to meet you."

Abel laughed, hugged her and said, "Captain Stoddard is a bit formal for family, isn't it? Why don't you call me Grandpa? Benjamin can tell you that I've been referring to you as my granddaughter ever since he wrote to tell me he had adopted you. So how did you convince him to allow you to drive the wagon into town this morning?"

"I don't know. I guess because I reminded him that I would have two friends with me and they would help me if anything spooked the horses."

"Well whatever the reason, I was very surprised and pleased to see my granddaughter driving the wagon."

"Cat, are you riding home on the buckboard or in the surrey?" asked Ben.

"Can I drive the surrey?"

"It's 'May I' and yes you may. Who is going to take the buckboard home?"

"You, Adam, Hoss, and Joe."

"And just who, besides your new grandfather, will be in the surrey to help you if the horses spook?"

"That's easy. I'll be right back." Cat saw Mike and Jasper coming out of the general store and ran up to them. "I'm driving the surrey home. Do you want to ride in it?"

"Sure," answered both boys together. "We'll get our horses and meet you in a minute."

Cat ran back to where her family was waiting. "Mike and Jas are going to ride with me so I don't need any grownups."

Ben laughed. "You are a little scamp. You know as well as the rest of us do that while there is room on the buckboard seat for three or four nine and ten year olds, there is only room on it for two adults."

"Hoss and Joe can sit on the seat and you and Adam can ride in the back."

Ben gave her a playful swat. "I don't think so little one. I think that Hoss and I will take the buckboard home and Adam and Joe can ride in the surrey with Abel."

Mike and Jasper walked up with their horses and Ben introduced them to Captain Stoddard. As they were getting into the surrey, Jasper said, "Say Cat, I forgot to ask you this morning. Did you ever finish King Arthur?"

"Yes. I finished it the night before last and started reading One Thousand and One Nights last night."

"Say, that's great," said Mike. "Stop by the school on the way out of town. If Miss Winter is still there, we can borrow it from the school library. Then we can talk about it on the way into school like we've been doing with King Arthur."

"Ok. Let me tell Pa so I don't get in trouble for stopping."

"Cat, my grandfather has had a very long trip. The boys can get the books tomorrow," said Adam.

"Nonsense Adam," said his grandfather. "I spent the last three days in Denver and am not in the least bit tired. And I never thought I would see the day when you would discourage a child from reading a book. I'm sure it won't take them long to locate the books and I may just go with them and ask the teacher how my new granddaughter is doing in school."

Cat ran to the buckboard and told Ben of her plans to stop at the school and why. Then she ran back to the surrey, got in, grabbed the reins and started following Ben and Hoss in the buckboard. As they were passing the general store, Mr. McLeod came out and said, "Ben, I'm glad I caught you before you left town. My shipment of children's winter clothing came today and I thought you would want to get what Cat needs while you're here."

"That's a great idea George. Thank you. Adam's grandfather just got into town today so let me ask him if he minds waiting while I get some winter clothing for Cat."

He walked back to the buckboard and talked to Abel who said, "That's fine. Take care of Cat while we're here. I am going to walk over to the school with these two young men, introduce myself to the teacher and ask how my granddaughter is doing in school."

Susan Winter was still at the school when Abel and the boys walked in. She looked up from her work and said, "Hello. I'm Susan Winter, the teacher here. How may I help you?"

"Hello. My name is Abel Stoddard. I am Adam Cartwright's grandfather and just claimed Catherine as my granddaughter. Since these two young men wanted to get a book, I thought I would walk over with them and see how my new granddaughter is doing in school."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Catherine is a very good student and I enjoy having her in my class."

"How is she doing with her studies?"

"She struggles with arithmetic and grammar. However, she is performing at grade level and is continuing to improve. She excels at all of her other subjects and is reading at a seventh grade level."

"How is her behavior?"

"Her behavior is excellent. She has gotten into a few fights but they were started by other students and she was defending herself. She is easy to get along with and has quite a few friends. Ever since she became friends with those two," she pointed at Mike and Jasper, "they have become more interested in reading and their grades have improved. Boys, have you returned King Arthur? Remember, you are supposed to return the books you have before borrowing another one."

"We forgot them," said Jasper. "We promise that we'll bring them back tomorrow morning. It's just that Cat started reading One Thousand and One Nights and we need to start reading it so we can talk about it on the ride into school."

"Alright boys. I'll let you borrow the books but if King Arthur isn't returned tomorrow, each of you will owe me a dime. You see Mr. Stoddard, in order to teach the children responsibility, if they don't return a book on time, they have to pay a ten cent fine. That money will be put aside and given to the school board to be used toward the purchase of more books. Two dollars in fines have already been paid since we received the books."

Just then Cat ran in and said, "Excuse me Miss Winter. Grandpa, Jas, Mike, Pa is ready to leave. Adam said if we don't hurry, he's going to drive the surrey home, not me. I sure wish Pa woulda let me sell Mr. Bossy Boots when I wanted to."

"I take it that Adam is bossing you around the way he used to boss Joe around?" asked Abel.

"Yes sir."

"Well, you just go and tell that grandson of mine I said to hold his horses. These two young men and I will join you when I am finished talking with your teacher. Oh, and be sure to tell him that I said you will be driving the surrey home no matter how long I take here and if he's in that big a hurry, he can join Benjamin and Hoss on the wagon."

"I'll tell him but he won't like it. He'll be madder than a hornet's nest that's been poked with a stick and he'll probably yell at me."

He hugged her and said, "Don't you worry about Adam. I'll deal with him if he gives you a hard time. Now scoot. I'll be along in a few minutes." Cat went back and told Adam what his grandfather had said. Except for when he was fishing or hunting, he hated waiting, so as Cat had predicted, he was upset with the delay. He started to scold Cat when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Why are you angry at your sister? Was she rude when she delivered my message?"

"No she wasn't."

"I thought so. You have never liked waiting and even though I was the cause of the additional delay, you decided to take it out on your sister. You won't yell at me and Catherine can't yell at you, so she is the one to suffer for your lack of patience. I want you to think about it on the ride home and ask yourself if that is fair to her. Cat, are you driving us home or is this thing going to drive itself?"

"I don't know. Let me ask it & see if it wants to drive itself." She pretended to talk to the surrey and said, "It said it wants me to drive."

Joe picked her up, put her on the front seat and said, "Well then drive or I will."

When Cat stopped the surrey at the road leading to the King ranch, Jasper asked, "Say Cat, how far did you read last night?"

"Adam and I read two chapters but he probably isn't going to want to read with me tonight so I might get one or two more read depending on how late Pa lets me stay up."

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself little sister?" asked Adam. "I don't remember saying I wouldn't read with you tonight. Joe did you hear me say anything about not wanting to read with our Cat tonight?"

"No I didn't. I'm sure that Pa and Hoss didn't either."

"I just figured…"

"Save that figuring for your arithmetic problems Squirt. Just because my grandfather is here doesn't mean I don't want to read with you. We'll probably get another two chapters read tonight Jasper, so you and Mike need to have the first four chapters read if you want to talk about them with Cat on your way to school in the morning."

When they arrived at the Ponderosa, Abel, Adam, and Joe went into the house while Cat struggled to take the harness off of the team. It took a while but she got it done and fed and watered the horses before bedding them down for the night. Then she carried the harness into the tack room only to discover that the nail it hung on was too high for her to reach. She walked into the house and found the rest of the family in the great room. "Will somebody please hang the harness up for me? I can't reach the nail."

"Did you unhitch the team?" asked Ben.

"Yes I did and it isn't easy when you're the shortest person around. I still have to muck out Beauty's stall, feed him, Lady, and Fury, fill Hop Sing's wood box, work with Fury and do my homework before supper because my brothers forgot that I'm not even supposed to have chores today or for the next four weeks. As soon as Fury doesn't need Lady any more, I'm going back to Dodge. Uncle Matt never broke his promises." She ran out the door and slammed it behind her.

"Is that true?" asked the captain. "The four of you sat here talking while a nine year old girl unharnessed a team, fed, watered, and bedded them down. Now she still has to take care of three more horses, fill a wood box and do homework before supper and she isn't supposed to have chores for the next month? I am very disappointed in all of you. I know that I haven't been here in many years, however, I will be here until the spring and we will have a lot of time to talk. Now, whoever is supposed to be doing her chores had better take care of them and if you don't want to lose her, I highly recommend that all of you apologize to Cat and tell her she won't have any chores until next year."

Just then Hop Sing walked into the great room carrying his spoon. "Why Missy Cat doing chores? She no supposed to have chores for one month. Missy Cat very upset family no keep word. Go keep promise and do chores. No be mean to Missy Cat or Hop Sing go back to China and take Missy Cat too!" He proceeded to hit all four Cartwright men with his spoon and went back to the kitchen muttering in Chinese the whole time.

Captain Stoddard followed the rest of the family out to the barn where they found Cat mucking out Beauty's stall and talking to him. "See Beauty. I told you that the kids at school were right. Grownups don't adopt kids 'cause they love or want them. They only adopt kids 'cause they feel sorry for them. Well they can adopt some other kid 'cause I'm goin' back to Dodge where I belong. I never should have moved here. Comin' here for Christmas and the summer was fun but living her sure ain't. Adam hates me and Pa doesn't really want me. Hoss, Joe, and Hop Sing are the only ones who love me and want me here." Cat's words broke the old captain's heart and he decided that he needed to have a long talk with his grandson and son-in-law before bed that night.

Ben picked Cat up hugged her and said, "The kids at school are wrong Kitten. I adopted you because I love you and wanted you to be a permanent part of my family. Adam doesn't hate you. He doesn't always act like it, but he does love you. So do the rest of us. I'm sorry that everyone left you to take care of the team and do the chores you are not supposed to have to do for a month. It was very wrong of us to do that to you and I am just as much to blame as your brothers are. The only way I can think of to make it up to you is to tell you that except for taking care of Fury because you're training him, you don't have to do any chores until next year. What do you have to do for homework today?"

"Arithmetic, reading, history and grammar. The last three are easy but the arithmetic is probably going to take me until I'm as old as Adam."

Ben laughed. "I don't think it will take you that long. Are you still working on long division?"

"Yes and I don't see why I need to do it. Nobody goes around dividing eight numbers by three numbers."

"Well, I don't know about that, but why don't you introduce your new grandfather to Fury and your puppies. Then do as much of your homework as you can before supper. As long as I see that you have been working, you can finish it before bed."

"Gee thanks Pa. Come on Grandpa. You have to meet Fury and my puppies." Cat grabbed her saddle bags, a brush and curry comb and let her new grandfather out to the pasture where Fury was playing with Lassie and Silver Chief. She no sooner climbed through the pasture gate when she found herself on the ground being smothered in puppy fur and kisses.

After being introduced to Fury and the puppies, Abel asked, "Why don't we go up to the house now so you can do your homework?"

"I do it out here unless it's raining. When I lived in Dodge, I used to do most of it while I was fishing so Pa said I could do it out here as long as I'm finished before supper. The only time I don't have to finish my homework before supper is when I need help with my arithmetic. Then it has to be finished before I go to bed. I do my grammar and history first. Then I read to my puppies and Fury. After that I start working on arithmetic. That way everyone else can get their work done and have time to help me if I need it."

"Would you do something for your old grandpa?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Would you do your reading now, while I'm still out here? I'd really like to hear you read."

"Sure. I can do that." Cat sat down against the fence, took her reader out of her saddle bags and started reading the new lesson and asking her puppies what unfamiliar words were. By the time she finished, the old captain was laughing so hard he had tears coming out of his eyes. He helped her pronounce the words, hugged her and went back up to the house, laughing the entire time.