When Cuffy Bear reached home, after his adventure with the bees, he found that his father and mother and his sister Silkie were just sitting down to their evening meal. Cuffy didn't speak to them as he came into the room where they were. He felt too to say a word, with his face aching and burning, and a terrible smarting in his eyes. So he just stumbled inside the room and tried to make himself as small as he could, so he wouldn't be noticed.  
Cuffy's parents and his little sister all looked at the little bear who had come into their house without even a knock. And his father said, in a cross voice—
 
"Go away, little bear. Where are your manners?"
 
Cuffy didn't know what to make of that. He didn't know what his father meant. So he just stood there and stared.
 
"What do you want?" his father asked him. "Whose little bear are you? And whatever is the matter with your face?"
 
Actually, Cuffy's own father didn't know him. And neither did his mother or his sister. You see, Cuffy's face was so from the bees' stings that his face did not look like a little bear's face at all. His nose, instead of being smooth and , was one great lump. And he hadn't a sign of an eye—just two .
 
"What's the matter with you?" Mr. Bear asked again. "Are you ill? Have you the black ?"
 
At that, Mrs. Bear rose hastily from the table and snatched Silkie up from her high-chair and took her right out of the room. The thought of black measles frightened Mrs. Bear. You know, they are ever so much worse............