“Now, goodness, do eat your dinner,” Mrs. Shagg kept saying. “Shagg, do help Little Black Bear to some more of the porridge.”
Dinner over with, Shagg and Little Black Bear drew their chairs back from the table so that Mrs. Shagg might clear the dishes, and this gave the visitor more of an opportunity of looking about. Along the sides of the cave were a number of chairs, all with very high backs, and, between these, no less than a dozen quaint chests with corners of brass and handles of iron. On the walls of the cave were many big frames fashioned from bark and each displaying subjects of a most interesting kind. One pictured a wide-waisted hogshead labeled “Molasses”; while another showed a huge honeybee drawn many times larger than bees really are and bearing the title, “The Bears’ Very Best Friend.” In fact, Little Black Bear thought all of the paintings in excellent taste and quite in the style that one might expect to find in the dining room of almost any bruin.
At the back of the cave was a stout wooden door which somehow or other wore a mysterious look. Eyeing it closely, Little Black Bear was just going to ask as to where the door led, when, glancing at Shagg, he saw that the big fellow had gone sound asleep. Next he discovered that Mrs. Shagg had done exactly the same thing in a comfortable rocker that stood near the fire.
“Well, well,” said Little Black Bear to himself, “if that’s to be the way of it, I, too, shall indulge in a nap.”
So, twisting about until he had got himself into a quite snoozy position, he was just on the point of closing his eyes, when there, among the wild roses, appeared a pink-frocked little girl with long yellow curls. Even as he watched, she placed her two hands on the window, and then, softly raising it, stepped into the cave.
CHAPTER XXI IN WHICH LITTLE BLACK BEAR ADDS STILL MORE TO HIS STORY
If Little Black Bear had never before held his breath, he most positively did when, as he gazed with fascination at the wee girl with the tumbling curls, he saw her raise the window and place her two slippered feet on the flagged floor of the cave.
The first thing he noticed was that she carried a bonnet by its long ribbons quite as one holds the handle to a basket. This she first placed on the floor and then, carefully closing the window behind her, again picked it up and started on tiptoe toward Mrs. Shagg.