As the heiress to a large fortune, Stephanie had often been complimented, but had never become accustomed to it. Nor had she ever thought of flattering anyone else. Mable was quite good at it, and she wished that she could tell the other girl that her name was pretty too and she really liked her hair. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how to say it without risking insulting her instead. Maybe Aunt Bess could teach her how to praise people. She would ask her after dinner tonight.

Stephanie popped her injured finger into her mouth. It was a bad habit she had picked up when she lived on the streets of London and had no access to bandages. The taste of dirt mingled with the metallic tang of blood, a familiar but unpleasant flavor.

Pulling it out, she studied the wound, her head tilted to the side. It was still bleeding a little bit, but it was a shallow cut. “It does hurt, but I’ve been scratched by cats before. I’ll be okay.” She sucked on the finger again.

Mable’s question gave Stephanie an idea. “They eat any kind of meat. We can go to my house and get some and bring it back to feed them. It’s not far. Unless you would rather stay with the cats.” Oh, how she hoped that her new friend would want to accompany her!