As he gazed at these two little orphans he thought of his own child, and of the rough and thorny way they would all three have to travel if they were so unfortunate as to outlive their childhood.
'Can we 'ave it, mister ?' repeated the boy.
Owen would have liked to grant the children's request, but he wanted the kitten himself.

Therefore he was relieved when their grandmother exclaimed: 'We don't want no more cats 'ere: we've got one already; that's quite enough.' She was not yet quite satisfied in her mind that the creature was not an incarnation of the Devil, but whether it was or not she did not want it, or anything else of Owen's, in this house.

She wished he would go, and take his kitten or his familiar or whatever it was, with him.

No good could come of his being there.

Was it not written in the Word: 'If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.' She did not know exactly what Anathema Maran-atha meant, but there could be no doubt that it was something very unpleasant.