father sat down to his cards, mother bustled around the samovar, and did not see the children…. The happy moment had come!

«Come!» whispered Vanya to his sister.

But at that very moment Stepan came into the room, and said with a grin:

«I beg your pardon, ma’am. Nero has eaten the kittens.»

Nina and Vanya turned pale, and looked with horror at Stepan.

«Yes, ma’am …» grinned the servant. «He went straight to the box and gobbled them up.»

The children expected everyone in the house to rise in alarm and fly at the guilty Nero. But their parents sat calmly in their chairs, and only expressed surprise at the appetite of the big dog. Father and mother laughed…. Nero marched up to the table, flourished his tail, and licked himself complacently. … Only the cat seemed disturbed; she stretched out her tail, and walked about the room looking suspiciously at everyone and mewing plaintively.

«Now, children, time for bed! Ten o’clock!» cried mother.

And Vanya and Nina were put to bed, where they wept over the injured cat, whose life had been desolated by cruel, nasty, unpunished Nero.