There was much wrangling, but the daughters were too much for Dame
Betsy; the beautiful cat was allowed to remain on the hearth, and the
remnant of the stew was set down there for her. But, to every one's
amazement, she refused to touch it. She sat purring, with her little
silvery paws folded, her plumy tail swept gracefully around her, and
quite ignored the stew.
"I will take it up and give it to the pig," said Dame Betsy.
"No, no!" cried the daughters; "leave it, and perhaps she will eat it
by-and-by."
So the stew was left upon the hearth. In the excitement Dorothy had
stopped spinning, and nobody had observed it. Suddenly Dame Betsy
noticed that the wheel was silent.
"Why are you not spinning, miss?" she asked, sharply. "Are you stopping
work to look at a cat?"
But Dorothy made no reply; she paid no attention whatever: she continued
to stare at the cat; she was quite pale, and her blue eyes were very
large. And no wonder, for she saw, instead of a cat, a beautiful little
princess, with eyes like stars, in a trailing robe of gray velvet
covered with silver embroidery, and instead of a purr she heard a
softly-hummed song. Dame Betsy seized Dorothy by the arm.
"To your work!" she cried.
And Dorothy began to spin; but she was trembling from head to foot, and
every now and then she glanced at the princess on the hearth.
The daughters, in their best gowns, sat with their mother around the
hearth until nine o'clock; then Dorothy was ordered to leave her wheel,
the cottage was locked up, and everybody went to bed.
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