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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lords of the Housetops, by Various

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

-

-

-Title: Lords of the Housetops

-       Thirteen Cat Tales

-

-Author: Various

-

-Editor: Carl Van Vechten

-

-Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30092]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORDS OF THE HOUSETOPS ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by David Edwards, Woodie4 and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This

-file was produced from images generously made available

-by The Internet Archive)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-        LORDS

-  OF THE HOUSETOPS

-  THIRTEEN CAT TALES

-

-

-

-

-  _BOOKS BY

-  CARL VAN VECHTEN_

-

-  INTERPRETERS

-  IN THE GARRET

-  THE MUSIC OF SPAIN

-  THE MERRY-GO-ROUND

-  MUSIC AND BAD MANNERS

-  THE TIGER IN THE HOUSE

-  LORDS OF THE HOUSETOPS

-  MUSIC AFTER THE GREAT WAR

-

-

-

-

-  WITH A PREFACE BY

-  CARL VAN VECHTEN

-

-

-  _C'est l'esprit familier du lieu;

-  Il juge, il préside, il inspire

-  Toutes choses dans son empire;

-  Peut-être est-il fée, est-il dieu._

-

-  CHARLES BAUDELAIRE.

-

-

-

-

-  NEW YORK   ALFRED · A · KNOPF   MCMXXI

-

-

-  COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY

-  ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC.

-

-  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

-

-

-  _These stories I have collected to amuse

-            Avery Hopwood_

-

-

-

-

-ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

-

-

-Thanks are due to the following authors and publishers for permission to

-use the stories contained in this book:

-

-Harper and Brothers and Mrs. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman for _The Cat_, from

-_Understudies_ (copyright 1901 by Harper and Brothers).

-

-Houghton Mifflin Co., for _Zut_, from _Zut and Other Parisians_

-(copyright 1903 by Guy Wetmore Carryl).

-

-E. P. Dutton and Co., for _A Psychical Invasion_, from _John Silence_.

-

-Doubleday, Page and Co., and Booth Tarkington for Gipsy, from _Penrod

-and Sam_ (copyright 1916 by Doubleday, Page and Co.).

-

-Harper and Brothers and the Mark Twain Estate for _Dick Baker's Cat_,

-from _Roughing It_ (copyright 1871-1899 by the American Publishing Co.;

-copyright 1899 by Samuel L. Clemens; copyright 1913 by Clara

-Gabrilowitsch).

-

-Harper and Brothers for _Madame Jolicoeur's Cat_, from _From the South

-of France_ (copyright 1912 by Harper and Brothers).

-

-George H. Doran Co., for _A Friendly Rat_, from _The Book of a

-Naturalist_ (copyright 1919 by the George H. Doran Co.).

-

-The Four Seas Co., and Peggy Bacon for _The Queen's Cat_, from _The

-True Philosopher_ (copyright 1919 by the Four Seas Co.).

-

-Houghton Mifflin Co., for _Calvin_, from _My Summer in a Garden_

-(copyright 1870 by Fields, Osgood and Co.; copyright 1898 by Charles

-Dudley Warner; copyright 1912 by Susan Lee Warner).

-

-

-

-

-PREFACE

-

-

-In the essay and especially in poetry the cat has become a favourite

-subject, but in fiction it must be admitted that he lags considerably

-behind the dog. The reasons for this apparently arbitrary preference on

-the part of authors are perfectly easy to explain. The instinctive acts

-of the dog, who is a company-loving brute, are very human; his

-psychology on occasion is almost human. He often behaves as a man would

-behave. It is therefore a comparatively simple matter to insert a dog

-into a story about men, for he can often carry it along after the

-fashion of a human character.

-

-But, as Andrew Lang has so well observed, literature can never take a

-thing simply for what it is worth. "The plain-dealing dog must be

-distinctly bored by the ever-growing obligation to live up to the

-anecdotes of him.... These anecdotes are not told for his sake; they are

-told to save the self-respect of people who want an idol, and who are

-distorting him into a figure of pure convention for their domestic

-altars. He is now expected to discriminate between relations and mere

-friends of the house; to wag his tail at _God Save the Queen_; to count

-up to five in chips of fire-wood, and to seven in mutton bones; to howl

-for all deaths in the family above the degree of second cousin; to post

-letters, and refuse them when they have been insufficiently stamped; and

-last, and most intolerable, to show a tender solicitude when tabby is

-out of sorts." The dog, indeed, for the most part, has become as

-sentimental and conventional a figure in current fiction as the ghost

-who haunts the ouija board or the idealistic soldier returned from the

-wars to reconstruct his own country.

-

-Now the cat, independent, liberty-loving, graceful, strong, resourceful,

-dignified, and self-respecting, has a psychology essentially feline,

-which has few points of contact with human psychology. The cat does not

-rescue babies from drowning or say his prayers in real life;

-consequently any attempt to make him do so in fiction would be

-ridiculous. He has, to be sure, his own virtues. To me these are

-considerably greater than those of any other animal. But the fact

-remains that the satisfactory treatment of the cat in fiction requires

-not only a deep knowledge of but also a deep affection for the sphinx of

-the fireside. Even then the difficulties can only be met in part, for

-the novelist must devise a situation in which human and feline

-psychology can be merged. The Egyptians probably could have written good

-cat stories. Perhaps they did. I sometimes ponder over the possibility

-of a cat room having been destroyed in the celebrated holocaust of

-Alexandria. The folk and fairy tales devoted to the cat, of which there

-are many, are based on an understanding, although often superficial, of

-cat traits. But the moderns, speaking generally, have not been able to

-do justice, in the novel or the short story, to this occult and lovable

-little beast.

-

-On the whole, however, the stories I have chosen for this volume meet

-the test fairly well. Other cat stories exist, scores of them, but

-these, with one or two exceptions, are the best I know. In some

-instances other stories with very similar subjects might have been

-substituted, for each story in this book has been included for some

-special reason. Mrs. Freeman's story is a subtle symbolic treatment of

-the theme. In _The Blue Dryad_ the cat is exhibited in his useful

-capacity as a killer of vermin. _A Psychical Invasion_ is a successful

-attempt to exploit the undoubted occult powers of the cat. Poe's famous

-tale paints puss as an avenger of wrongs. In _Zut_ the often

-inexplicable desire of the cat to change his home has a charming

-setting. Booth Tarkington in _Gipsy_ has made a brilliant study of a

-wild city cat, living his own independent life with no apparent means of

-support. I should state that the ending of the story, which is a chapter

-from _Penrod and Sam_, is purely arbitrary. Gipsy, you will be glad to

-learn, was not drowned. He never would be. If you care to read the rest

-of his history you must turn to the book from which this excerpt was

-torn. There seem to be three excellent reasons for including Mark

-Twain's amusing skit: in the first place it is distinctly entertaining;

-in the second place Mr. Clemens adored cats to such an extent that it

-would be impertinent to publish a book of cat stories without including

-something from his pen; in the third place _Dick Baker's Cat_[1]

-celebrates an exceedingly important feline trait, the inability to be

-duped twice by the same phenomenon. It is interesting to record that

-Theodore Roosevelt liked this yarn so much that he named a White House

-cat, Tom Quartz.

-

-

-   [1: Those who have attempted to form anthologies or collections of

-   stories similar to this know what difficulties have to be overcome.

-   The publishers of Mark Twain's works were at first unwilling to

-   grant me permission to use this story. I wish here to take occasion

-   to thank Mrs. Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch and Mr. Albert Bigelow

-   Paine for their successful efforts in my behalf. I am sure that the

-   readers of this book will be equally grateful.]

-

-

-Thomas A. Janvier's narrative reveals the cat in his luxurious capacity

-as a treasured pet, and Mr. Alden's story is a good example of the kind

-of tale in which a friendless human being depends upon an animal for

-affection. There are, of course, many such, but in most cases dogs are

-the heroes. _The Queen's Cat_ is a story about an ailurophobe, or a

-cat-fearer, and his cure. Mr. Hudson's contribution is fact rather than

-fiction. I have included it because it is delightful and because it is

-the only good example available of that sort of story in which a cat

-becomes friendly with a member of an enemy race, although in life the

-thing is common. Mr. Warner's _Calvin_, too, certainly is not fiction,

-but as it shares with Pierre Loti's _Vies de deux chattes_ the

-distinction of being one of the two best cat biographies that have yet

-been written I could not omit it.

-

-There remains _The Afflictions of an English Cat_ which, it will be

-perceived by even a careless reader, is certainly a good deal more than

-a cat story. It is, indeed, a satire on British respectability, but we

-Americans of today need not snicker at the English while reading it, for

-the point is equally applicable to us. When I first run across this tale

-while preparing material for my long cat book, _The Tiger in the House_,

-I was immensely amused, and to my great astonishment I have not been

-able to find an English translation of it. The story, the original title

-of which is _Peines de coeur d'une chatte anglaise_, first appeared in

-a volume of satires called _Scènes de la vie privée et publique des

-animaux_, issued by Hetzel in Paris in 1846, and to which George Sand,

-Alfred de Musset, and others contributed. The main purpose of the

-collaboration was doubtless to furnish a text to the extraordinary

-drawings of Grandville, who had an uncanny talent for merging human and

-animal characteristics. The volume was translated into English by J.

-Thompson and published in London in 1877, but for obvious reasons _The

-Afflictions of an English Cat_ was not included in the translation,

-although Balzac's name would have added lustre to the collection. But in

-the Victorian age such a rough satire would scarcely have been

-tolerated. Even in French the story is not easily accessible. Aside from

-its original setting I have found it in but one edition of Balzac, the

-_OEuvres Complètes_ issued in de luxe form by Calmann-Levy in 1879,

-where it is buried in the twenty-first volume, _OEuvres Diverses_.

-

-Therefore I make no excuse for translating and offering it to my

-readers, for although perhaps it was not intended for a picture of cat

-life, the observation on the whole is true enough, and the story itself

-is too delicious to pass by. I should state that the opening and closing

-paragraphs refer to earlier chapters in the _Vie privée et publique des

-animaux_. I have, I may add, omitted one or two brief passages out of

-consideration for what is called American taste.

-

-                                                       CARL VAN VECHTEN.

-

-_April_ 6, 1920.

-_New York_.

-

-

-

-

-                                CONTENTS

-

-

-       PREFACE,                                                    vii

-

-     I MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN: THE CAT,                             1

-

-    II GUY WETMORE CARRYL: ZUT,                                     11

-

-   III ALGERNON BLACKWOOD: A PSYCHICAL INVASION,                    29

-

-    IV HONORÉ DE BALZAC: THE AFFLICTIONS OF AN ENGLISH CAT,        103

-         (translated from the French by Carl Van Vechten)

-

-     V BOOTH TARKINGTON: GIPSY,                                    124

-

-    VI G. H. POWELL: THE BLUE DRYAD,                               131

-

-   VII MARK TWAIN: DICK BAKER'S CAT,                               144

-

-  VIII EDGAR ALLAN POE: THE BLACK CAT,                             149

-

-    IX THOMAS A. JANVIER: MADAME JOLICOEUR'S CAT,                  163

-

-     X W. H. HUDSON: A FRIENDLY RAT,                               198

-

-    XI WILLIAM LIVINGSTON ALDEN: MONTY'S FRIEND,                   203

-

-   XII PEGGY BACON: THE QUEEN'S CAT,                               220

-

-  XIII CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER: CALVIN,                              226

-

-

-

-

-LORDS OF THE HOUSETOPS

-THIRTEEN CAT TALES

-

-THE CAT

-

-

-The snow was falling, and the Cat's fur was stiffly pointed with it, but

-he was imperturbable. He sat crouched, ready for the death-spring, as he

-had sat for hours. It was night--but that made no difference--all times

-were as one to the Cat when he was in wait for prey. Then, too, he was

-under no constraint of human will, for he was living alone that winter.

-Nowhere in the world was any voice calling him; on no hearth was there a

-waiting dish. He was quite free except for his own desires, which

-tyrannized over him when unsatisfied as now. The Cat was very

-hungry--almost famished, in fact. For days the weather had been very

-bitter, and all the feebler wild things which were his prey by

-inheritance, the born serfs to his family, had kept, for the most part,

-in their burrows and nests, and the Cat's long hunt had availed him

-nothing. But he waited with the inconceivable patience and persistency

-of his race; besides, he was certain. The Cat was a creature of absolute

-convictions, and his faith in his deductions never wavered. The rabbit

-had gone in there between those low-hung pine boughs. Now her little

-doorway had before it a shaggy curtain of snow, but in there she was.

-The Cat had seen her enter, so like a swift grey shadow that even his

-sharp and practised eyes had glanced back for the substance following,

-and then she was gone. So he sat down and waited, and he waited still in

-the white night, listening angrily to the north wind starting in the

-upper heights of the mountains with distant screams, then swelling into

-an awful crescendo of rage, and swooping down with furious white wings

-of snow like a flock of fierce eagles into the valleys and ravines. The

-Cat was on the side of a mountain, on a wooded terrace. Above him a few

-feet away towered the rock ascent as steep as the wall of a cathedral.

-The Cat had never climbed it--trees were the ladders to his heights of

-life. He had often looked with wonder at the rock, and miauled bitterly

-and resentfully as man does in the face of a forbidding Providence. At

-his left was the sheer precipice. Behind him, with a short stretch of

-woody growth between, was the frozen perpendicular wall of a mountain

-stream. Before him was the way to his home. When the rabbit came out she

-was trapped; her little cloven feet could not scale such unbroken

-steeps. So the Cat waited. The place in which he was looked like a

-maelstrom of the wood. The tangle of trees and bushes clinging to the

-mountain-side with a stern clutch of roots, the prostrate trunks and

-branches, the vines embracing everything with strong knots and coils of

-growth, had a curious effect, as of things which had whirled for ages in

-a current of raging water, only it was not water, but wind, which had

-disposed everything in circling lines of yielding to its fiercest points

-of onset. And now over all this whirl of wood and rock and dead trunks

-and branches and vines descended the snow. It blew down like smoke over

-the rock-crest above; it stood in a gyrating column like some

-death-wraith of nature, on the level, then it broke over the edge of

-the precipice, and the Cat cowered before the fierce backward set of

-it. It was as if ice needles pricked his skin through his beautiful

-thick fur, but he never faltered and never once cried. He had nothing to

-gain from crying, and everything to lose; the rabbit would hear him cry

-and know he was waiting.

-

-It grew darker and darker, with a strange white smother, instead of the

-natural blackness of night. It was a night of storm and death superadded

-to the night of nature. The mountains were all hidden, wrapped about,

-overawed, and tumultuously overborne by it, but in the midst of it

-waited, quite unconquered, this little, unswerving, living patience and

-power under a little coat of grey fur.

-

-A fiercer blast swept over the rock, spun on one mighty foot of

-whirlwind athwart the level, then was over the precipice.

-

-Then the Cat saw two eyes luminous with terror, frantic with the impulse

-of flight, he saw a little, quivering, dilating nose, he saw two

-pointing ears, and he kept still, with every one of his fine nerves and

-muscles strained like wires. Then the rabbit was out--there was one long

-line of incarnate flight and terror--and the Cat had her.

-

-Then the Cat went home, trailing his prey through the snow.

-

-The Cat lived in the house which his master had built, as rudely as a

-child's block-house, but stanchly enough. The snow was heavy on the low

-slant of its roof, but it would not settle under it. The two windows and

-the door were made fast, but the Cat knew a way in. Up a pine-tree

-behind the house he scuttled, though it was hard work with his heavy

-rabbit, and was in his little window under the eaves, then down through

-the trap to the room below, and on his master's bed with a spring and a

-great cry of triumph, rabbit and all. But his master was not there; he

-had been gone since early fall and it was now February. He would not

-return until spring, for he was an old man, and the cruel cold of the

-mountains clutched at his vitals like a panther, and he had gone to the

-village to winter. The Cat had known for a long time that his master was

-gone, but his reasoning was always sequential and circuitous; always for

-him what had been would be, and the more easily for his marvellous

-waiting powers so he always came home expecting to find his master.

-

-When he saw that he was still gone, he dragged the rabbit off the rude

-couch which was the bed to the floor, put one little paw on the carcass

-to keep it steady, and began gnawing with head to one side to bring his

-strongest teeth to bear.

-

-It was darker in the house than it had been in the wood, and the cold

-was as deadly, though not so fierce. If the Cat had not received his fur

-coat unquestioningly of Providence, he would have been thankful that he

-had it. It was a mottled grey, white on the face and breast, and thick

-as fur could grow.

-

-The wind drove the snow on the windows with such force that it rattled

-like sleet, and the house trembled a little. Then all at once the Cat

-heard a noise, and stopped gnawing his rabbit and listened, his shining

-green eyes fixed upon a window. Then he heard a hoarse shout, a halloo

-of despair and entreaty; but he knew it was not his master come home,

-and he waited, one paw still on the rabbit. Then the halloo came again,

-and then the Cat answered. He said all that was essential quite plainly

-to his own comprehension. There was in his cry of response inquiry,

-information, warning, terror, and finally, the offer of comradeship; but

-the man outside did not hear him, because of the howling of the storm.

-

-Then there was a great battering pound at the door, then another, and

-another. The Cat dragged his rabbit under the bed. The blows came

-thicker and faster. It was a weak arm which gave them, but it was nerved

-by desperation. Finally the lock yielded, and the stranger came in. Then

-the Cat, peering from under the bed, blinked with a sudden light, and

-his green eyes narrowed. The stranger struck a match and looked about.

-The Cat saw a face wild and blue with hunger and cold, and a man who

-looked poorer and older than his poor old master, who was an outcast

-among men for his poverty and lowly mystery of antecedents; and he heard

-a muttered, unintelligible voicing of distress from the harsh piteous

-mouth. There was in it both profanity and prayer, but the Cat knew

-nothing of that.

-

-The stranger braced the door which he had forced, got some wood from the

-stock in the corner, and kindled a fire in the old stove as quickly as

-his half-frozen hands would allow. He shook so pitiably as he worked

-that the Cat under the bed felt the tremor of it. Then the man, who was

-small and feeble and marked with the scars of suffering which he had

-pulled down upon his own head, sat down in one of the old chairs and

-crouched over the fire as if it were the one love and desire of his

-soul, holding out his yellow hands like yellow claws, and he groaned.

-The Cat came out from under the bed and leaped up on his lap with the

-rabbit. The man gave a great shout and start of terror, and sprang, and

-the Cat slid clawing to the floor, and the rabbit fell inertly, and the

-man leaned, gasping with fright, and ghastly, against the wall. The Cat

-grabbed the rabbit by the slack of its neck and dragged it to the man's

-feet. Then he raised his shrill, insistent cry, he arched his back high,

-his tail was a splendid waving plume. He rubbed against the man's feet,

-which were bursting out of their torn shoes.

-

-The man pushed the Cat away, gently enough, and began searching about

-the little cabin. He even climbed painfully the ladder to the loft, lit

-a match, and peered up in the darkness with straining eyes. He feared

-lest there might be a man, since there was a cat. His experience with

-men had not been pleasant, and neither had the experience of men been

-pleasant with him. He was an old wandering Ishmael among his kind; he

-had stumbled upon the house of a brother, and the brother was not at

-home, and he was glad.

-

-He returned to the Cat, and stooped stiffly and stroked his back, which

-the animal arched like the spring of a bow.

-

-Then he took up the rabbit and looked at it eagerly by the firelight.

-His jaws worked. He could almost have devoured it raw. He fumbled--the

-Cat close at his heels--around some rude shelves and a table, and

-found, with a grunt of self-gratulation, a lamp with oil in it. That he

-lighted; then he found a frying-pan and a knife, and skinned the rabbit,

-and prepared it for cooking, the Cat always at his feet.

-

-When the odour of the cooking flesh filled the cabin, both the man and

-the Cat looked wolfish. The man turned the rabbit with one hand and

-stooped to pat the Cat with the other. The Cat thought him a fine man.

-He loved him with all his heart, though he had known him such a short

-time, and though the man had a face both pitiful and sharply set at

-variance with the best of things.

-

-It was a face with the grimy grizzle of age upon it, with fever hollows

-in the cheeks, and the memories of wrong in the dim eyes, but the Cat

-accepted the man unquestioningly and loved him. When the rabbit was half

-cooked, neither the man nor the Cat could wait any longer. The man took

-it from the fire, divided it exactly in halves, gave the Cat one, and

-took the other himself. Then they ate.

-

-Then the man blew out the light, called the Cat to him, got on the bed,

-drew up the ragged coverings, and fell asleep with the Cat in his bosom.

-

-The man was the Cat's guest all the rest of the winter, and winter is

-long in the mountains. The rightful owner of the little hut did not

-return until May. All that time the Cat toiled hard, and he grew rather

-thin himself, for he shared everything except mice with his guest; and

-sometimes game was wary, and the fruit of patience of days was very

-little for two. The man was ill and weak, however, and unable to eat

-much, which was fortunate, since he could not hunt for himself. All day

-long he lay on the bed, or else sat crouched over the fire. It was a

-good thing that fire-wood was ready at hand for the picking up, not a

-stone's-throw from the door, for that he had to attend to himself.

-

-The Cat foraged tirelessly. Sometimes he was gone for days together, and

-at first the man used to be terrified, thinking he would never return;

-then he would hear the familiar cry at the door, and stumble to his feet

-and let him in. Then the two would dine together, sharing equally; then

-the Cat would rest and purr, and finally sleep in the man's arms.

-

-Towards spring the game grew plentiful; more wild little quarry were

-tempted out of their homes, in search of love as well as food. One day

-the Cat had luck--a rabbit, a partridge, and a mouse. He could not carry

-them all at once, but finally he had them together at the house door.

-Then he cried, but no one answered. All the mountain streams were

-loosened, and the air was full of the gurgle of many waters,

-occasionally pierced by a bird-whistle. The trees rustled with a new

-sound to the spring wind; there was a flush of rose and gold-green on

-the breasting surface of a distant mountain seen through an opening in

-the wood. The tips of the bushes were swollen and glistening red, and

-now and then there was a flower; but the Cat had nothing to do with

-flowers. He stood beside his booty at the house door, and cried and

-cried with his insistent triumph and complaint and pleading, but no one

-came to let him in. Then the cat left his little treasures at the door,

-and went around to the back of the house to the pine-tree, and was up

-the trunk with a wild scramble, and in through his little window, and

-down through the trap to the room, and the man was gone.

-

-The Cat cried again--that cry of the animal for human companionship

-which is one of the sad notes of the world; he looked in all the

-corners; he sprang to the chair at the window and looked out; but no one

-came. The man was gone and he never came again.

-

-The Cat ate his mouse out on the turf beside the house; the rabbit and

-the partridge he carried painfully into the house, but the man did not

-come to share them. Finally, in the course of a day or two, he ate them

-up himself; then he slept a long time on the bed, and when he waked the

-man was not there.

-

-Then the Cat went forth to his hunting-grounds again, and came home at

-night with a plump bird, reasoning with his tireless persistency in

-expectancy that the man would be there; and there was a light in the

-window, and when he cried his old master opened the door and let him in.

-

-His master had strong comradeship with the Cat, but not affection. He

-never patted him like that gentler outcast, but he had a pride in him

-and an anxiety for his welfare, though he had left him alone all winter

-without scruple. He feared lest some misfortune might have come to the

-Cat, though he was so large of his kind, and a mighty hunter. Therefore,

-when he saw him at the door in all the glory of his glossy winter coat,

-his white breast and face shining like snow in the sun, his own face lit

-up with welcome, and the Cat embraced his feet with his sinuous body

-vibrant with rejoicing purrs.

-

-The Cat had his bird to himself, for his master had his own supper

-already cooking on the stove. After supper the Cat's master took his

-pipe, and sought a small store of tobacco which he had left in his hut

-over winter. He had thought often of it; that and the Cat seemed

-something to come home to in the spring. But the tobacco was gone; not a

-dust left. The man swore a little in a grim monotone, which made the

-profanity lose its customary effect. He had been, and was, a hard

-drinker; he had knocked about the world until the marks of its sharp

-corners were on his very soul, which was thereby calloused, until his

-very sensibility to loss was dulled. He was a very old man.

-

-He searched for the tobacco with a sort of dull combativeness of

-persistency; then he stared with stupid wonder around the room. Suddenly

-many features struck him as being changed. Another stove-lid was broken;

-an old piece of carpet was tacked up over a window to keep out the cold;

-his fire-wood was gone. He looked and there was no oil left in his can.

-He looked at the coverings on his bed; he took them up, and again he

-made that strange remonstrant noise in his throat. Then he looked again

-for his tobacco.

-

-Finally he gave it up. He sat down beside the fire, for May in the

-mountains is cold; he held his empty pipe in his mouth, his rough

-forehead knitted, and he and the Cat looked at each other across that

-impassable barrier of silence which has been set between man and beast

-from the creation of the world.

-

-                                             MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN.

-

-

-

-

-ZUT

-

-

-Side by side, on the avenue de la Grande Armée, stand the épicerie of

-Jean-Baptiste Caille and the salle de coiffure of Hippolyte Sergeot, and

-between these two there is a great gulf fixed, the which has come to be

-through the acerbity of Alexandrine Caille (according to Espérance

-Sergeot), though the duplicity of Espérance Sergeot (according to

-Alexandrine Caille). But the veritable root of all evil is Zut, and Zut

-sits smiling in Jean-Baptiste's doorway, and cares naught for anything

-in the world, save the sunlight and her midday meal.

-

-When Hippolyte found himself in a position to purchase the salle de

-coiffure, he gave evidence of marked acumen by uniting himself in the

-holy--and civil--bonds of matrimony with the retiring patron's daughter,

-whose dot ran into the coveted five figures, and whose heart, said

-Hippolyte, was as good as her face was pretty, which, even by the

-unprejudiced, was acknowledged to be forcible commendation. The

-installation of the new establishment was a nine days' wonder in the

-quartier. It is a busy thoroughfare at its western end, is the avenue de

-la Grande Armée, crowded with bicyclists and with a multitude of

-creatures fearfully and wonderfully clad, who do incomprehensible things

-in connection with motor-carriages. Also there are big cafés in plenty,

-whose waiters must be smoothly shaven: and moreover, at the time when

-Hippolyte came into his own, the porte Maillot station of the

-Métropolitain had already pushed its entrée and sortie up through the

-soil, not a hundred metres from his door, where they stood like

-atrocious yellow tulips, art nouveau, breathing people out and in by

-thousands. There was no lack of possible custom. The problem was to turn

-possible into probable, and probable into permanent; and here the seven

-wits and the ten thousand francs of Espérance came prominently to the

-fore. She it was who sounded the progressive note, which is half the

-secret of success.

-

-"Pour attirer les gens," she said, with her arms akimbo, "il faut

-d'abord les épater."

-

-In her creed all that was worth doing at all was worth doing gloriously.

-So, under her guidance, Hippolyte journeyed from shop to shop in the

-faubourg St. Antoine, and spent hours of impassioned argument with

-carpenters and decorators. In the end, the salle de coiffure was

-glorified by fresh paint without and within, and by the addition of a

-long mirror in a gilt frame, and a complicated apparatus of gleaming

-nickel-plate, which went by the imposing title of appareil antiseptique,

-and the acquisition of which was duly proclaimed by a special placard

-that swung at right angles to the door. The shop was rechristened, too,

-and the black and white sign across its front which formerly bore the

-simple inscription "Kilbert, Coiffeur," now blazoned abroad the vastly

-more impressive legend "Salon Malakoff." The window shelves fairly

-groaned beneath their burden of soaps, toilet waters, and perfumery, a

-string of bright yellow sponges occupied each corner of the window,

-and, through the agency of white enamel letters on the pane itself,

-public attention was drawn to the apparently contradictory facts that

-English was spoken and "schampoing" given within. Then Hippolyte engaged

-two assistants, and clad them in white duck jackets, and his wife

-fabricated a new blouse of blue silk, and seated herself behind the desk

-with an engaging smile. The enterprise was fairly launched, and

-experience was not slow in proving the theories of Espérance to be well

-founded. The quartier was épaté from the start, and took with enthusiasm

-the bait held forth. The affairs of the Salon Malakoff prospered

-prodigiously.

-

-But there is a serpent in every Eden, and in that of the Sergeot this

-rôle was assumed by Alexandrine Caille. The worthy épicier himself was

-of too torpid a temperament to fall a victim to the gnawing tooth of

-envy, but in the soul of his wife the launch, and, what was worse, the

-immediate prosperity of the Salon Malakoff, bred dire resentment. Her

-own establishment had grown grimy with the passage of time, and the

-annual profits displayed a constant and disturbing tendency toward

-complete evaporation, since the coming of the big cafés, and the

-resultant subversion of custom to the wholesale dealers. This persistent

-narrowing of the former appreciable gap between purchase and selling

-price rankled in Alexandrine's mind, but her misguided efforts to

-maintain the percentage of profit by recourse to inferior qualities only

-made bad worse, and, even as the Sergeot were steering the Salon

-Malakoff forth upon the waters of prosperity, there were nightly

-conferences in the household next door, at which impending ruin

-presided, and exasperation sounded the keynote of every sentence. The

-resplendent façade of Hippolyte's establishment, the tide of custom

-which poured into and out of his door, the loudly expressed admiration

-of his ability and thrift, which greeted her ears on every side, and,

-finally, the sight of Espérance, fresh, smiling, and prosperous, behind

-her little counter--all these were as gall and wormwood to Alexandrine,

-brooding over her accumulating debts and her decreasing earnings, among

-her dusty stacks of jars and boxes. Once she had called upon her

-neighbour, somewhat for courtesy's sake, but more for curiosity's, and

-since then the agreeable scent of violet and lilac perfumery dwelt

-always in her memory, and mirages of scrupulously polished nickel and

-glass hung always before her eyes. The air of her own shop was heavy

-with the pungent odours of raw vegetables, cheeses, and dried fish, and

-no brilliance redeemed the sardine and biscuit boxes which surrounded

-her. Life became a bitter thing to Alexandrine Caille, for if nothing is

-more gratifying than one's own success, surely nothing is less so than

-that of one's neighbour. Moreover, her visit had never been returned,

-and this again was fuel for her rage.

-

-But the sharpest thorn in her flesh--and even in that of her phlegmatic

-husband--was the base desertion to the enemy's camp of Abel Flique. In

-the days when Madame Caille was unmarried, and when her ninety kilos

-were fifty still, Abel had been youngest commis in the very shop over

-which she now held sway, and the most devoted suitor in all her train.

-Even after his prowess in the black days of '71 had won him the

-attention of the civil authorities, and a grateful municipality had

-transformed the grocer-soldier into a guardian of law and order, he

-still hung upon the favour of his heart's first love, and only gave up

-the struggle when Jean-Baptiste bore off the prize and enthroned her in

-state as presiding genius of his newly acquired épicerie. Later, an

-unwittingly kindly prefect had transferred Abel to the seventeenth

-arrondissement, and so the old friendship was picked up where it had

-been dropped, and the ruddy-faced agent found it both convenient and

-agreeable to drop in frequently at Madame Caille's on his way home, and

-exchange a few words of reminiscence or banter for a box of sardines or

-a minute package of tea. But, with the deterioration in his old friends'

-wares, and the almost simultaneous appearance of the Salon Malakoff, his

-loyalty wavered. Flique sampled the advantages of Hippolyte's

-establishment, and, being won over thereby, returned again and again.

-His hearty laugh came to be heard almost daily in the salle de coiffure,

-and because he was a brave homme and a good customer, who did not stand

-upon a question of a few sous, but allowed Hippolyte to work his will,

-and trim and curl and perfume him to his heart's content, there was

-always a welcome for him, and a smile from Madame Sergeot, and

-occasionally a little present of brillantine or perfumery, for

-friendship's sake, and because it is well to have the good-will of the

-all-powerful police.

-

-From her window Madame Caille observed the comings and goings of Abel

-with a resentful eye. It was rarely now that he glanced into the

-épicerie as he passed, and still more rarely that he greeted his former

-flame with a stiff nod. Once she had hailed him from the doorway,

-sardines in hand, but he had replied that he was pressed for time, and

-had passed rapidly on. Then indeed did blackness descend upon the soul

-of Alexandrine, and in her deepest consciousness she vowed to have

-revenge. Neither the occasion nor the method was as yet clear to her,

-but she pursed her lips ominously, and bided her time.

-

-In the existence of Madame Caille there was one emphatic consolation for

-all misfortunes, the which was none other than Zut, a white angora cat

-of surpassing beauty and prodigious size. She had come into

-Alexandrine's possession as a kitten, and, what with much eating and an

-inherent distaste for exercise, had attained her present proportions and

-her superb air of unconcern. It was from the latter that she derived her

-name, the which, in Parisian argot, at once means everything and

-nothing, but is chiefly taken to signify complete and magnificent

-indifference to all things mundane and material: and in the matter of

-indifference Zut was past-mistress. Even for Madame Caille herself, who

-fed her with the choicest morsels from her own plate, brushed her fine

-fur with excessive care, and addressed caressing remarks to her at

-minute intervals throughout the day, Zut manifested a lack of interest

-that amounted to contempt. As she basked in the warm sun at the shop

-door, the round face of her mistress beamed upon her from the little

-desk, and the voice of her mistress sent fulsome flattery winging toward

-her on the heavy air. Was she beautiful, mon Dieu! In effect, all that

-one could dream of the most beautiful! And her eyes, of a blue like the

-heaven, were they not wise and calm? Mon Dieu, yes! It was a cat among

-thousands, a mimi almost divine.

-

-Jean-Baptiste, appealed to for confirmation of these statements, replied

-that it was so. There was no denying that this was a magnificent beast.

-And of a chic. And caressing--(which was exaggeration). And of an

-affection--(which was doubtful). And courageous--(which was wholly

-untrue). Mazette, yes! A cat of cats! And was the boy to be the whole

-afternoon in delivering a cheese, he demanded of her? And Madame Caille

-would challenge him to ask her that--but it was a good, great beast all

-the same!--and so bury herself again in her accounts, until her

-attention was once more drawn to Zut, and fresh flattery poured forth.

-For all of this Zut cared less than nothing. In the midst of her

-mistress's sweetest cajolery, she simply closed her sapphire eyes, with

-an inexpressibly eloquent air of weariness, or turned to the intricacies

-of her toilet, as who should say: "Continue. I am listening. But it is

-unimportant."

-

-But long familiarity with her disdain had deprived it of any sting, so

-far as Alexandrine was concerned. Passive indifference she could suffer.

-It was only when Zut proceeded to an active manifestation of ingratitude

-that she inflicted an irremediable wound. Returning from her marketing

-one morning, Madame Caille discovered her graceless favourite seated

-complacently in the doorway of the Salon Malakoff, and, in a paroxysm

-of indignation, bore down upon her, and snatched her to her breast.

-

-"Unhappy one!" she cried, planting herself in full view of Espérance,

-and, while raining the letter of her reproach upon the truant,

-contriving to apply its spirit wholly to her neighbour. "What hast thou

-done? Is it that thou desertest me for strangers, who may destroy thee?

-Name of a name, hast thou no heart? They would steal thee from me--and

-above all, _now_! Well then, no! One shall see if such things are

-permitted! Vagabond!" And with this parting shot, which passed

-harmlessly over the head of the offender, and launched itself full at

-Madame Sergeot, the outraged épicière flounced back into her own domain,

-where, turning, she threatened the empty air with a passionate gesture.

-

-"Vagabond!" she repeated. "Good-for-nothing! Is it not enough to have

-robbed me of my friends, that you must steal my child as well? We shall

-see!"--then, suddenly softening--"Thou art beautiful, and good, and

-wise. Mon Dieu, if I should lose thee, and above all, _now_!"

-

-Now there existed a marked, if unvoiced, community of feeling between

-Espérance and her resentful neighbour, for the former's passion for cats

-was more consuming even than the latter's. She had long cherished the

-dream of possessing a white angora, and when, that morning, of her own

-accord, Zut stepped into the Salon Malakoff, she was received with

-demonstrations even warmer than those to which she had long since become

-accustomed. And, whether it was the novelty of her surroundings, or

-merely some unwonted instinct which made her unusually susceptible, her

-habitual indifference then and there gave place to animation, and her

-satisfaction was vented in her long, appreciative purr, wherewith it was

-not once a year that she vouchsafed to gladden her owner's heart.

-Espérance hastened to prepare a saucer of milk, and, when this was

-exhausted, added a generous portion of fish, and Zut then made a tour of

-the shop, rubbing herself against the chair-legs, and receiving the

-homage of customers and duck-clad assistants alike. Flique, his ruddy

-face screwed into a mere knot of features, as Hippolyte worked violet

-hair-tonic into his brittle locks, was moved to satire by the

-apparition.

-

-"Tiens! It is with the cat as with the clients. All the world forsakes

-the Caille."

-

-Strangely enough, the wrathful words of Alexandrine, as she snatched her

-darling from the doorway, awoke in the mind of Espérance her first

-suspicion of this smouldering resentment. Absorbed in the launching of

-her husband's affairs, and constantly employed in the making of change

-and with the keeping of her simple accounts, she had had no time to

-bestow upon her neighbours, and, even had her attention been free, she

-could hardly have been expected to deduce the rancour of Madame Caille

-from the evidence at hand. But even if she had been able to ignore the

-significance of that furious outburst at her very door, its meaning had

-not been lost upon the others, and her own half-formed conviction was

-speedily confirmed.

-

-"What has she?" cried Hippolyte, pausing in the final stage of his

-operations upon the highly perfumed Flique.

-

-"Do I know?" replied his wife with a shrug. "She thinks I stole her

-cat--_I_!"

-

-"Quite simply, she hates you," put in Flique. "And why not? She is old,

-and fat, and her business is taking itself off, like that! You are young

-and"--with a bow, as he rose--"beautiful, and your affairs march to a

-marvel. She is jealous, c'est tout! It is a bad character, that."

-

-"But, mon Dieu!"--

-

-"But what does that say to you? Let her go her way, she and her cat. Au

-r'voir, 'sieurs, 'dame."

-

-And, rattling a couple of sous into the little urn reserved for tips,

-the policeman took his departure, amid a chorus of "Merci, m'sieu', au

-r'voir, m'sieu'," from Hippolyte and his duck-clad aids.

-

-But what he had said remained behind. All day Madame Sergeot pondered

-upon the incident of the morning and Abel Flique's comments thereupon,

-seeking out some more plausible reason for this hitherto unsuspected

-enmity than the mere contrast between her material conditions and those

-of Madame Caille seemed to her to afford. For, to a natural placidity of

-temperament, which manifested itself in a reluctance to incur the

-displeasure of any one, had been lately added in Espérance a shrewd

-commercial instinct, which told her that the fortunes of the Salon

-Malakoff might readily be imperilled by an unfriendly tongue. In the

-quartier, gossip spread quickly and took deep root. It was quite

-imaginably within the power of Madame Caille to circulate such rumours

-of Sergeot dishonesty as should draw their lately won custom from them

-and leave but empty chairs and discontent where now all was prosperity

-and satisfaction.

-

-Suddenly there came to her the memory of that visit which she had never

-returned. Mon Dieu! and was not that reason enough? She, the youngest

-patronne in the quartier, to ignore deliberately the friendly call of a

-neighbour! At least it was not too late to make amends. So, when

-business lagged a little in the late afternoon, Madame Sergeot slipped

-from her desk, and, after a furtive touch to her hair, went in next

-door, to pour oil upon the troubled waters.

-

-Madame Caille, throned at her counter, received her visitor with

-unexampled frigidity.

-

-"Ah, it is you," she said. "You have come to make some purchases, no

-doubt."

-

-"Eggs, madame," answered her visitor, disconcerted, but tactfully

-accepting the hint.

-

-"The best quality--or--?" demanded Alexandrine, with the suggestion of a

-sneer.

-

-"The best, evidently, madame. Six, if you please. Spring weather at

-last, it would seem."

-

-To this generality the other made no reply. Descending from her stool,

-she blew sharply into a small paper bag, thereby distending it into a

-miniature balloon, and began selecting the eggs from a basket, holding

-each one to the light, and then dusting it with exaggerated care before

-placing it in the bag. While she was thus employed Zut advanced from a

-secluded corner, and, stretching her fore legs slowly to their utmost

-length, greeted her acquaintance of the morning with a yawn. Finding in

-the cat an outlet for her embarrassment, Espérance made another effort

-to give the interview a friendly turn.

-

-"He is beautiful, madame, your matou," she said.

-

-"It is a female," replied Madame Caille, turning abruptly from the

-basket, "and she does not care for strangers."

-

-This second snub was not calculated to encourage neighbourly overtures,

-but Madame Sergeot had felt herself to be in the wrong, and was not to

-be so readily repulsed.

-

-"We do not see Monsieur Caille at the Salon Malakoff," she continued.

-"We should be enchanted"--

-

-"My husband shaves himself," retorted Alexandrine, with renewed dignity.

-

-"But his hair"--ventured Espérance.

-

-"_I_ cut it!" thundered her foe.

-

-Here Madame Sergeot made a false move. She laughed. Then, in confusion,

-and striving, too late, to retrieve herself--"Pardon, madame," she

-added, "but it seems droll to me, that. After all, ten sous is a sum so

-small"--

-

-"All the world, unfortunately," broke in Madame Caille, "has not the

-wherewithal to buy mirrors, and pay itself frescoes and appareils

-antiseptiques! The eggs are twenty-four sous--but we do not pride

-ourselves upon our eggs. Perhaps you had better seek them elsewhere for

-the future!"

-

-For sole reply Madame Sergeot had recourse to her expressive shrug, and

-then laying two francs upon the counter, and gathering up the sous which

-Alexandrine rather hurled at than handed her, she took her way toward

-the door with all the dignity at her command. But Madame Caille, feeling

-her snub to have been insufficient, could not let her go without a final

-thrust.

-

-"Perhaps your husband will be so amiable as to shampoo my cat!" she

-shouted. "She seems to like your 'Salon'!"

-

-But Espérance, while for concord's sake inclined to tolerate all

-rudeness to herself, was not prepared to hear Hippolyte insulted, and

-so, wheeling at the doorway, flung all her resentment into two words.

-

-"Mal élevée!"

-

-"Gueuse!" screamed Alexandrine from the desk. And so they parted.

-

-Now, even at this stage, an armed truce might still have been preserved,

-had Zut been content with the evil she had wrought, and not thought it

-incumbent upon her further to embitter a quarrel that was a very pretty

-quarrel as it stood. But, whether it was that the milk and fish of the

-Salon Malakoff lay sweeter upon her memory than any of the familiar

-dainties of the épicerie Caille, or that, by her unknowable feline

-instinct, she was irresistibly drawn toward the scent of violet and

-lilac brillantine, her first visit to the Sergeot was soon repeated, and

-from this visit other visits grew, until it was almost a daily

-occurrence for her to saunter slowly into the salle de coiffure, and

-there receive the food and homage which were rendered as her undisputed

-due. For, whatever was the bitterness of Espérance toward Madame Caille,

-no part thereof descended upon Zut. On the contrary, at each visit her

-heart was more drawn toward the sleek angora, and her desire but

-strengthened to possess her peer. But white angoras are a luxury, and an

-expensive one at that, and, however prosperous the Salon Malakoff might

-be, its proprietors were not as yet in a position to squander eighty

-francs upon a whim. So, until profits should mount higher, Madame

-Sergeot was forced to content herself with the voluntary visits of her

-neighbour's pet.

-

-Madame Caille did not yield her rights of sovereignty without a

-struggle. On the occasion of Zut's third visit, she descended upon the

-Salon Malakoff, robed in wrath, and found the adored one contentedly

-feeding on fish in the very bosom of the family Sergeot. An appalling

-scene ensued.

-

-"If," she stormed, crimson of countenance, and threatening Espérance

-with her fist, "if you _must_ entice my cat from her home, at _least_ I

-will thank you not to give her food. I provide all that is necessary;

-and, for the rest, how do I know what is in that saucer?"

-

-And she surveyed the duck-clad assistants and the astounded customers

-with tremendous scorn.

-

-"You others," she added, "I ask you, is it just? These people take my

-cat, and feed her--_feed_ her--with I know not what! It is overwhelming,

-unheard of--and, above all, _now_!"

-

-But here the peaceful Hippolyte played trumps.

-

-"It is the privilege of the vulgar," he cried, advancing, razor in hand,

-"when they are at home, to insult their neighbours, but here--no! My

-wife has told me of you and of your sayings. Beware! or I shall arrange

-your affair for you! Go! you and your cat!"

-

-And, by way of emphasis, he fairly kicked Zut into her astonished

-owner's arms. He was magnificent, was Hippolyte!

-

-This anecdote, duly elaborated, was poured into the ears of Abel Flique

-an hour later, and that evening he paid his first visit in many months

-to Madame Caille. She greeted him effusively, being willing to pardon

-all the past for the sake of regaining this powerful friend. But the

-glitter in the agent's eye would have cowed a fiercer spirit than hers.

-

-"You amuse yourself," he said sternly, looking straight at her over the

-handful of raisins which she tendered him, "by wearying my friends. I

-counsel you to take care. One does not sell inferior eggs in Paris

-without hearing of it sooner or later. I know more than I have told, but

-not more than I _can_ tell, if I choose."

-

-"Our ancient friendship"--faltered Alexandrine, touched in a vulnerable

-spot.

-

-"--preserves you thus far," added Flique, no less unmoved. "Beware how

-you abuse it!"

-

-And so the calls of Zut were no longer disturbed.

-

-But the rover spirit is progressive, and thus short visits became long

-visits, and finally the angora spent whole nights in the Salon Malakoff,

-where a box and a bit of carpet were provided for her. And one fateful

-morning the meaning of Madame Caille's significant words "and above all,

-_now_!" was made clear.

-

-The prosperity of Hippolyte's establishment had grown apace, so that, on

-the morning in question, the three chairs were occupied, and yet other

-customers awaited their turn. The air was laden with violet and lilac.

-A stout chauffeur, in a leather suit, thickly coated with dust, was

-undergoing a shampoo at the hands of one of the duck-clad, and, under

-the skilfully plied razor of the other, the virgin down slid from the

-lips and chin of a slim and somewhat startled youth, while from a

-vaporizer Hippolyte played a fine spray of perfumed water upon the ruddy

-countenance of Abel Flique. It was an eloquent moment, eminently fitted

-for some dramatic incident, and that dramatic incident Zut supplied. She

-advanced slowly and with an air of conscious dignity from the corner

-where was her carpeted box, and in her mouth was a limp something,

-which, when deposited in the immediate centre of the Salon Malakoff,

-resolved itself into an angora kitten, as white as snow!

-

-"Epatant!" said Flique, mopping his perfumed chin. And so it was.

-

-There was an immediate investigation of Zut's quarters, which revealed

-four other kittens, but each of these was marked with black or tan. It

-was the flower of the flock with which the proud mother had won her

-public.

-

-"And they are all yours!" cried Flique, when the question of ownership

-arose. "Mon Dieu, yes! There was such a case not a month ago, in the

-eighth arrondissement--a concierge of the avenue Hoche who made a

-contrary claim. But the courts decided against her. They are all yours,

-Madame Sergeot. My felicitations!"

-

-Now, as we have said, Madame Sergeot was of a placid temperament which

-sought not strife. But the unprovoked insults of Madame Caille had

-struck deep, and, after all, she was but human.

-

-So it was that, seated at her little desk, she composed the following

-masterpiece of satire:

-

-     CHÈRE MADAME,--We send you back your cat, and the others--all but

-     one. One kitten was of a pure white, more beautiful even than its

-     mother. As we have long desired a white angora, we keep this one as

-     a souvenir of you. We regret that we do not see the means of

-     accepting the kind offer you were so amiable as to make us. We fear

-     that we shall not find time to shampoo your cat, as we shall be so

-     busy taking care of our own. Monsieur Flique will explain the rest.

-

-     We pray you to accept, madame, the assurance of our distinguished

-     consideration,

-

-                                      HIPPOLYTE AND ESPÉRANCE SERGEOT.

-

-It was Abel Flique who conveyed the above epistle, and Zut, and four of

-Zut's kittens, to Alexandrine Caille, and, when that wrathful person

-would have rent him with tooth and nail, it was Abel Flique who laid his

-finger on his lip, and said,--

-

-"Concern yourself with the superior kitten, madame, and I concern myself

-with the inferior eggs!"

-

-To which Alexandrine made no reply. After Flique had taken his

-departure, she remained speechless for five consecutive minutes for the

-first time in the whole of her waking existence, gazing at the spot at

-her feet where sprawled the white angora, surrounded by her mottled

-offspring. Even when the first shock of her defeat had passed, she

-simply heaved a deep sigh, and uttered two words,--

-

-"Oh, _Zut_!"

-

-The which, in Parisian argot, at once means everything and nothing.

-

-                                                GUY WETMORE CARRYL.

-

-

-

-

-A PSYCHICAL INVASION

-

-I

-

-

-"And what is it makes you think I could be of use in this particular

-case?" asked Dr. John Silence, looking across somewhat sceptically at

-the Swedish lady in the chair facing him.

-

-"Your sympathetic heart and your knowledge of occultism--"

-

-"Oh, please--that dreadful word!" he interrupted, holding up a finger

-with a gesture of impatience.

-

-"Well, then," she laughed, "your wonderful clairvoyant gift and your

-trained psychic knowledge of the processes by which a personality may be

-disintegrated and destroyed--these strange studies you've been

-experimenting with all these years--"

-

-"If it's only a case of multiple personality I must really cry off,"

-interrupted the doctor again hastily, a bored expression in his eyes.

-

-"It's not that; now, please, be serious, for I want your help," she

-said; "and if I choose my words poorly you must be patient with my

-ignorance. The case I know will interest you, and no one else could deal

-with it so well. In fact, no ordinary professional man could deal with

-it at all, for I know of no treatment or medicine that can restore a

-lost sense of humour!"

-

-"You begin to interest me with your 'case,'" he replied, and made

-himself comfortable to listen.

-

-Mrs. Sivendson drew a sigh of contentment as she watched him go to the

-tube and heard him tell the servant he was not to be disturbed.

-

-"I believe you have read my thoughts already," she said; "your intuitive

-knowledge of what goes on in other people's minds is positively

-uncanny."

-

-Her friend shook his head and smiled as he drew his chair up to a

-convenient position and prepared to listen attentively to what she had

-to say. He closed his eyes, as he always did when he wished to absorb

-the real meaning of a recital that might be inadequately expressed, for

-by this method he found it easier to set himself in tune with the living

-thoughts that lay behind the broken words.

-

-By his friends John Silence was regarded as an eccentric, because he was

-rich by accident, and by choice--a doctor. That a man of independent

-means should devote his time to doctoring, chiefly doctoring folk who

-could not pay, passed their comprehension entirely. The native nobility

-of a soul whose first desire was to help those who could not help

-themselves, puzzled them. After that, it irritated them, and, greatly to

-his own satisfaction, they left him to his own devices.

-

-Dr. Silence was a free-lance, though, among doctors, having neither

-consulting-room, book-keeper, nor professional manner. He took no fees,

-being at heart a genuine philanthropist, yet at the same time did no

-harm to his fellow-practitioners, because he only accepted

-unremunerative cases, and cases that interested him for some very

-special reason. He argued that the rich could pay, and the very poor

-could avail themselves of organized charity, but that a very large class

-of ill-paid, self-respecting workers, often followers of the arts, could

-not afford the price of a week's comforts merely to be told to travel.

-And it was these he desired to help; cases often requiring special and

-patient study--things no doctor can give for a guinea, and that no one

-would dream of expecting him to give.

-

-But there was another side to his personality and practice, and one with

-which we are now more directly concerned; for the cases that especially

-appealed to him were of no ordinary kind, but rather of that intangible,

-elusive, and difficult nature best described as psychical afflictions;

-and, though he would have been the last person himself to approve of the

-title, it was beyond question that he was known more or less generally

-as the "Psychic Doctor."

-

-In order to grapple with cases of this peculiar kind, he had submitted

-himself to a long and severe training, at once physical, mental, and

-spiritual. What precisely this training had been, or where undergone, no

-one seemed to know,--for he never spoke of it, as, indeed, he betrayed

-no single other characteristic of the charlatan,--but the fact that it

-had involved a total disappearance from the world for five years, and

-that after he returned and began his singular practice no one ever

-dreamed of applying to him the so easily acquired epithet of quack,

-spoke much for the seriousness of his strange quest and also for the

-genuineness of his attainments.

-

-For the modern psychical researcher he felt the calm tolerance of the

-"man who knows." There was a trace of pity in his voice--contempt he

-never showed--when he spoke of their methods.

-

-"This classification of results is uninspired work at best," he said

-once to me, when I had been his confidential assistant for some years.

-"It leads nowhere, and after a hundred years will lead nowhere. It is

-playing with the wrong end of a rather dangerous toy. Far better, it

-would be, to examine the causes, and then the results would so easily

-slip into place and explain themselves. For the sources are accessible,

-and open to all who have the courage to lead the life that alone makes

-practical investigation safe and possible."

-

-And towards the question of clairvoyance, too, his attitude was

-significantly sane, for he knew how extremely rare the genuine power

-was, and that what is commonly called clairvoyance is nothing more than

-a keen power of visualizing.

-

-"It connotes a slightly increased sensibility, nothing more," he would

-say. "The true clairvoyant deplores his power, recognizing that it adds

-a new horror to life, and is in the nature of an affliction. And you

-will find this always to be the real test."

-

-Thus it was that John Silence, this singularly developed doctor, was

-able to select his cases with a clear knowledge of the difference

-between mere hysterical delusion and the kind of psychical affliction

-that claimed his special powers. It was never necessary for him to

-resort to the cheap mysteries of divination; for, as I have heard him

-observe, after the solution of some peculiarly intricate problem--

-

-"Systems of divination, from geomancy down to reading by tea-leaves, are

-merely so many methods of obscuring the outer vision, in order that the

-inner vision may become open. Once the method is mastered, no system is

-necessary at all."

-

-And the words were significant of the methods of this remarkable man,

-the keynote of whose power lay, perhaps, more than anything else, in the

-knowledge, first, that thought can act at a distance, and, secondly,

-that thought is dynamic and can accomplish material results.

-

-"Learn how to _think_," he would have expressed it, "and you have

-learned to tap power at its source."

-

-To look at--he was now past forty--he was sparely built, with speaking

-brown eyes in which shone the light of knowledge and self-confidence,

-while at the same time they made one think of that wondrous gentleness

-seen most often in the eyes of animals. A close beard concealed the

-mouth without disguising the grim determination of lips and jaw, and the

-face somehow conveyed an impression of transparency, almost of light, so

-delicately were the features refined away. On the fine forehead was that

-indefinable touch of peace that comes from identifying the mind with

-what is permanent in the soul, and letting the impermanent slip by

-without power to wound or distress; while, from his manner,--so gentle,

-quiet, sympathetic,--few could have guessed the strength of purpose that

-burned within like a great flame.

-

-"I think I should describe it as a psychical case," continued the

-Swedish lady, obviously trying to explain herself very intelligently,

-"and just the kind you like. I mean a case where the cause is hidden

-deep down in some spiritual distress, and--"

-

-"But the symptoms first, please, my dear Svenska," he interrupted, with

-a strangely compelling seriousness of manner, "and your deductions

-afterwards."

-

-She turned round sharply on the edge of her chair and looked him in the

-face, lowering her voice to prevent her emotion betraying itself too

-obviously.

-

-"In my opinion there's only one symptom," she half whispered, as though

-telling something disagreeable--"fear--simply fear."

-

-"Physical fear?"

-

-"I think not; though how can I say? I think it's a horror in the

-psychical region. It's no ordinary delusion; the man is quite sane; but

-he lives in mortal terror of something--"

-

-"I don't know what you mean by his 'psychical region,'" said the doctor,

-with a smile; "though I suppose you wish me to understand that his

-spiritual, and not his mental, processes are affected. Anyhow, try and

-tell me briefly and pointedly what you know about the man, his symptoms,

-his need for help, _my_ peculiar help, that is, and all that seems vital

-in the case. I promise to listen devotedly."

-

-"I am trying," she continued earnestly, "but must do so in my own words

-and trust to your intelligence to disentangle as I go along. He is a

-young author, and lives in a tiny house off Putney Heath somewhere. He

-writes humorous stories--quite a genre of his own: Pender--you must have

-heard the name--Felix Pender? Oh, the man had a great gift, and married

-on the strength of it; his future seemed assured. I say 'had,' for quite

-suddenly his talent utterly failed him. Worse, it became transformed

-into its opposite. He can no longer write a line in the old way that was

-bringing him success--"

-

-Dr. Silence opened his eyes for a second and looked at her.

-

-"He still writes, then? The force has not gone?" he asked briefly, and

-then closed his eyes again to listen.

-

-"He works like a fury," she went on, "but produces nothing"--she

-hesitated a moment--"nothing that he can use or sell. His earnings have

-practically ceased, and he makes a precarious living by book-reviewing

-and odd jobs--very odd, some of them. Yet, I am certain his talent has

-not really deserted him finally, but is merely--"

-

-Again Mrs. Sivendson hesitated for the appropriate word.

-

-"In abeyance," he suggested, without opening his eyes.

-

-"Obliterated," she went on, after a moment to weigh the word, "merely

-obliterated by something else--"

-

-"By some _one_ else?"

-

-"I wish I knew. All I can say is that he is haunted, and temporarily his

-sense of humour is shrouded--gone--replaced by something dreadful that

-writes other things. Unless something competent is done, he will simply

-starve to death. Yet he is afraid to go to a doctor for fear of being

-pronounced insane; and, anyhow, a man can hardly ask a doctor to take a

-guinea to restore a vanished sense of humour, can he?"

-

-"Has he tried any one at all--?"

-

-"Not doctors yet. He tried some clergymen and religious people; but they

-_know_ so little and have so little intelligent sympathy. And most of

-them are so busy balancing on their own little pedestals--"

-

-John Silence stopped her tirade with a gesture.

-

-"And how is it that you know so much about him?" he asked gently.

-

-"I know Mrs. Pender well--I knew her before she married him--"

-

-"And is she a cause, perhaps?"

-

-"Not in the least. She is devoted; a woman very well educated, though

-without being really intelligent, and with so little sense of humour

-herself that she always laughs at the wrong places. But she has nothing

-to do with the cause of his distress; and, indeed, has chiefly guessed

-it from observing him, rather than from what little he has told her.

-And he, you know, is a really lovable fellow, hard-working,

-patient--altogether worth saving."

-

-Dr. Silence opened his eyes and went over to ring for tea. He did not

-know very much more about the case of the humorist than when he first

-sat down to listen; but he realized that no amount of words from his

-Swedish friend would help to reveal the real facts. A personal interview

-with the author himself could alone do that.

-

-"All humorists are worth saving," he said with a smile, as she poured

-out tea. "We can't afford to lose a single one in these strenuous days.

-I will go and see your friend at the first opportunity."

-

-She thanked him elaborately, effusively, with many words, and he, with

-much difficulty, kept the conversation thenceforward strictly to the

-teapot.

-

-And, as a result of this conversation, and a little more he had gathered

-by means best known to himself and his secretary, he was whizzing in his

-motor-car one afternoon a few days later up the Putney Hill to have his

-first interview with Felix Pender, the humorous writer who was the

-victim of some mysterious malady in his "psychical region" that had

-obliterated his sense of the comic and threatened to wreck his life and

-destroy his talent. And his desire to help was probably of equal

-strength with his desire to know and to investigate.

-

-The motor stopped with a deep purring sound, as though a great black

-panther lay concealed within its hood, and the doctor--the "psychic

-doctor," as he was sometimes called--stepped out through the gathering

-fog, and walked across the tiny garden that held a blackened fir tree

-and a stunted laurel shrubbery. The house was very small, and it was

-some time before any one answered the bell. Then, suddenly, a light

-appeared in the hall, and he saw a pretty little woman standing on the

-top step begging him to come in. She was dressed in grey, and the

-gaslight fell on a mass of deliberately brushed light hair. Stuffed,

-dusty birds, and a shabby array of African spears, hung on the wall

-behind her. A hat-rack, with a bronze plate full of very large cards,

-led his eye swiftly to a dark staircase beyond. Mrs. Pender had round

-eyes like a child's, and she greeted him with an effusiveness that

-barely concealed her emotion, yet strove to appear naturally cordial.

-Evidently she had been looking out for his arrival, and had outrun the

-servant girl. She was a little breathless.

-

-"I hope you've not been kept waiting--I think it's _most_ good of you to

-come--" she began, and then stopped sharp when she saw his face in the

-gaslight. There was something in Dr. Silence's look that did not

-encourage mere talk. He was in earnest now, if ever man was.

-

-"Good evening, Mrs. Pender," he said, with a quiet smile that won

-confidence, yet deprecated unnecessary words, "the fog delayed me a

-little. I am glad to see you."

-

-They went into a dingy sitting-room at the back of the house, neatly

-furnished but depressing. Books stood in a row upon the mantelpiece. The

-fire had evidently just been lit. It smoked in great puffs into the

-room.

-

-"Mrs. Sivendson said she thought you might be able to come," ventured

-the little woman again, looking up engagingly into his face and

-betraying anxiety and eagerness in every gesture. "But I hardly dared to

-believe it. I think it is really too good of you. My husband's case is

-so peculiar that--well, you know, I am quite sure any _ordinary_ doctor

-would say at once the asylum--"

-

-"Isn't he in, then?" asked Dr. Silence gently.

-

-"In the asylum?" she gasped. "Oh dear, no--not yet!"

-

-"In the house, I meant," he laughed.

-

-She gave a great sigh.

-

-"He'll be back any minute now," she replied, obviously relieved to see

-him laugh; "but the fact is, we didn't expect you so early--I mean, my

-husband hardly thought you would come at all."

-

-"I am always delighted to come--when I am really wanted, and can be of

-help," he said quickly; "and, perhaps, it's all for the best that your

-husband is out, for now that we are alone you can tell me something

-about his difficulties. So far, you know, I have heard very little."

-

-Her voice trembled as she thanked him, and when he came and took a chair

-close beside her she actually had difficulty in finding words with which

-to begin.

-

-"In the first place," she began timidly, and then continuing with a

-nervous incoherent rush of words, "he will be simply delighted that

-you've really come, because he said you were the only person he would

-consent to see at all--the only doctor, I mean. But, of course, he

-doesn't know how frightened I am, or how much I have noticed. He

-pretends with me that it's just a nervous breakdown, and I'm sure he

-doesn't realize all the odd things I've noticed him doing. But the main

-thing, I suppose--"

-

-"Yes, the main thing, Mrs. Pender," he said encouragingly, noticing her

-hesitation.

-

-"--is that he thinks we are not alone in the house. That's the chief

-thing."

-

-"Tell me more facts--just facts."

-

-"It began last summer when I came back from Ireland; he had been here

-alone for six weeks, and I thought him looking tired and queer--ragged

-and scattered about the face, if you know what I mean, and his manner

-worn out. He said he had been writing hard, but his inspiration had

-somehow failed him, and he was dissatisfied with his work. His sense of

-humour was leaving him, or changing into something else, he said. There

-was something in the house, he declared, that"--she emphasized the

-words--"prevented his feeling funny."

-

-"Something in the house that prevented his feeling funny," repeated the

-doctor. "Ah, now we're getting to the heart of it!"

-

-"Yes," she resumed vaguely, "that's what he kept saying."

-

-"And what was it he _did_ that you thought strange?" he asked

-sympathetically. "Be brief, or he may be here before you finish."

-

-"Very small things, but significant it seemed to me. He changed his

-workroom from the library, as we call it, to the sitting-room. He said

-all his characters became wrong and terrible in the library; they

-altered, so that he felt like writing tragedies--vile, debased

-tragedies, the tragedies of broken souls. But now he says the same of

-the smoking-room, and he's gone back to the library."

-

-"Ah!"

-

-"You see, there's so little I can tell you," she went on, with

-increasing speed and countless gestures. "I mean it's only very small

-things he does and says that are queer. What frightens me is that he

-assumes there is some one else in the house all the time--some one I

-never see. He does not actually say so, but on the stairs I've seen him

-standing aside to let some one pass; I've seen him open a door to let

-some one in or out; and often in our bedroom he puts chairs about as

-though for some one else to sit in. Oh--oh yes, and once or twice," she

-cried--"once or twice--"

-

-She paused, and looked about her with a startled air.

-

-"Yes?"

-

-"Once or twice," she resumed hurriedly, as though she heard a sound that

-alarmed her, "I've heard him running--coming in and out of the rooms

-breathless as if something were after him--"

-

-The door opened while she was still speaking, cutting her words off in

-the middle, and a man came into the room. He was dark and

-clean-shaven sallow rather, with the eyes of imagination, and dark hair

-growing scantily about the temples. He was dressed in a shabby tweed

-suit, and wore an untidy flannel collar at the neck. The dominant

-expression of his face was startled--hunted; an expression that might

-any moment leap into the dreadful stare of terror and announce a total

-loss of self-control.

-

-The moment he saw his visitor a smile spread over his worn features, and

-he advanced to shake hands.

-

-"I hoped you would come; Mrs. Sivendson said you might be able to find

-time," he said simply. His voice was thin and reedy. "I am very glad to

-see you, Dr. Silence. It is 'Doctor,' is it not?"

-

-"Well, I am entitled to the description," laughed the other, "but I

-rarely get it. You know, I do not practice as a regular thing; that is,

-I only take cases that specially interest me, or--"

-

-He did not finish the sentence, for the men exchanged a glance of

-sympathy that rendered it unnecessary.

-

-"I have heard of your great kindness."

-

-"It's my hobby," said the other quickly, "and my privilege."

-

-"I trust you will still think so when you have heard what I have to tell

-you," continued the author, a little wearily. He led the way across the

-hall into the little smoking-room where they could talk freely and

-undisturbed.

-

-In the smoking-room, the door shut and privacy about them, Pender's

-attitude changed somewhat, and his manner became very grave. The doctor

-sat opposite, where he could watch his face. Already, he saw, it looked

-more haggard. Evidently it cost him much to refer to his trouble at all.

-

-"What I have is, in my belief, a profound spiritual affliction," he

-began quite bluntly, looking straight into the other's eyes.

-

-"I saw that at once," Dr. Silence said.

-

-"Yes, you saw that, of course; my atmosphere must convey that much to

-any one with psychic perceptions. Besides which, I feel sure from all I

-have heard, that you are really a soul-doctor, are you not, more than a

-healer merely of the body?"

-

-"You think of me too highly," returned the other; "though I prefer

-cases, as you know, in which the spirit is disturbed first, the body

-afterwards."

-

-"I understand, yes. Well, I have experienced a curious disturbance

-in--_not_ in my physical region primarily. I mean my nerves are all

-right, and my body is all right. I have no delusions exactly, but my

-spirit is tortured by a calamitous fear which first came upon me in a

-strange manner."

-

-John Silence leaned forward a moment and took the speaker's hand and

-held it in his own for a few brief seconds, closing his eyes as he did

-so. He was not feeling his pulse, or doing any of the things that

-doctors ordinarily do; he was merely absorbing into himself the main

-note of the man's mental condition, so as to get completely his own

-point of view, and thus be able to treat his case with true sympathy. A

-very close observer might perhaps have noticed that a slight tremor ran

-through his frame after he had held the hand for a few seconds.

-

-"Tell me quite frankly, Mr. Pender," he said soothingly, releasing the

-hand, and with deep attention in his manner, "tell me all the steps that

-led to the beginning of this invasion. I mean tell me what the

-particular drug was, and why you took it, and how it affected you--"

-

-"Then you know it began with a drug!" cried the author, with undisguised

-astonishment.

-

-"I only know from what I observe in you, and in its effect upon myself.

-You are in a surprising psychical condition. Certain portions of your

-atmosphere are vibrating at a far greater rate than others. This is the

-effect of a drug, but of no ordinary drug. Allow me to finish, please.

-If the higher rate of vibration spreads all over, you will become, of

-course, permanently cognisant of a much larger world than the one you

-know normally. If, on the other hand, the rapid portion sinks back to

-the usual rate, you will lose these occasional increased perceptions you

-now have."

-

-"You amaze me!" exclaimed the author; "for your words exactly describe

-what I have been feeling--"

-

-"I mention this only in passing, and to give you confidence before you

-approach the account of your real affliction," continued the doctor.

-"All perception, as you know, is the result of vibrations; and

-clairvoyance simply means becoming sensitive to an increased scale of

-vibrations. The awakening of the inner senses we hear so much about

-means no more than that. Your partial clairvoyance is easily explained.

-The only thing that puzzles me is how you managed to procure the drug,

-for it is not easy to get in pure form, and no adulterated tincture

-could have given you the terrific impetus I see you have acquired. But,

-please proceed now and tell me your story in your own way."

-

-"This _Cannabis indica_," the author went on, "came into my possession

-last autumn while my wife was away. I need not explain how I got it, for

-that has no importance; but it was the genuine fluid extract, and I

-could not resist the temptation to make an experiment. One of its

-effects, as you know, is to induce torrential laughter--"

-

-"Yes; sometimes."

-

-"--I am a writer of humorous tales, and I wished to increase my own

-sense of laughter--to see the ludicrous from an abnormal point of view.

-I wished to study it a bit, if possible, and--"

-

-"Tell me!"

-

-"I took an experimental dose. I starved for six hours to hasten the

-effect, locked myself into this room, and gave orders not to be

-disturbed. Then I swallowed the stuff and waited."

-

-"And the effect?"

-

-"I waited one hour, two, three, four, five hours. Nothing happened. No

-laughter came, but only a great weariness instead. Nothing in the room

-or in my thoughts came within a hundred miles of a humorous aspect."

-

-"Always a most uncertain drug," interrupted the doctor. "We make a very

-small use of it on that account."

-

-"At two o'clock in the morning I felt so hungry and tired that I decided

-to give up the experiment and wait no longer. I drank some milk and went

-upstairs to bed. I felt flat and disappointed. I fell asleep at once and

-must have slept for about an hour, when I awoke suddenly with a great

-noise in my ears. It was the noise of my own laughter! I was simply

-shaking with merriment. At first I was bewildered and thought I had been

-laughing in dreams, but a moment later I remembered the drug, and was

-delighted to think that after all I had got an effect. It had been

-working all along, only I had miscalculated the time. The only

-unpleasant thing _then_ was an odd feeling that I had not waked

-naturally, but had been wakened by some one else--deliberately. This

-came to me as a certainty in the middle of my noisy laughter and

-distressed me."

-

-"Any impression who it could have been?" asked the doctor, now listening

-with close attention to every word, very much on the alert.

-

-Pender hesitated and tried to smile. He brushed his hair from his

-forehead with a nervous gesture.

-

-"You must tell me all your impressions, even your fancies; they are

-quite as important as your certainties."

-

-"I had a vague idea that it was some one connected with my forgotten

-dream, some one who had been at me in my sleep, some one of great

-strength and great ability--or great force--quite an unusual

-personality--and, I was certain, too--a woman."

-

-"A good woman?" asked John Silence quietly.

-

-Pender started a little at the question and his sallow face flushed; it

-seemed to surprise him. But he shook his head quickly with an

-indefinable look of horror.

-

-"Evil," he answered briefly, "appallingly evil, and yet mingled with the

-sheer wickedness of it was also a certain perverseness--the perversity

-of the unbalanced mind."

-

-He hesitated a moment and looked up sharply at his interlocutor. A shade

-of suspicion showed itself in his eyes.

-

-"No," laughed the doctor, "you need not fear that I'm merely humouring

-you, or think you mad. Far from it. Your story interests me exceedingly

-and you furnish me unconsciously with a number of clues as you tell it.

-You see, I possess some knowledge of my own as to these psychic byways."

-

-"I was shaking with such violent laughter," continued the narrator,

-reassured in a moment, "though with no clear idea what was amusing me,

-that I had the greatest difficulty in getting up for the matches, and

-was afraid I should frighten the servants overhead with my explosions.

-When the gas was lit I found the room empty, of course, and the door

-locked as usual. Then I half dressed and went out on to the landing, my

-hilarity better under control, and proceeded to go downstairs. I wished

-to record my sensations. I stuffed a handkerchief into my mouth so as

-not to scream aloud and communicate my hysterics to the entire

-household."

-

-"And the presence of this--this--?"

-

-"It was hanging about me all the time," said Pender, "but for the moment

-it seemed to have withdrawn. Probably, too, my laughter killed all other

-emotions."

-

-"And how long did you take getting downstairs?"

-

-"I was just coming to that. I see you know all my 'symptoms' in advance,

-as it were; for, of course, I thought I should never get to the bottom.

-Each step seemed to take five minutes, and crossing the narrow hall at

-the foot of the stairs--well, I could have sworn it was half an hour's

-journey had not my watch certified that it was a few seconds. Yet I

-walked fast and tried to push on. It was no good. I walked apparently

-without advancing, and at that rate it would have taken me a week to get

-down Putney Hill."

-

-"An experimental dose radically alters the scale of time and space

-sometimes--"

-

-"But, when at last I got into my study and lit the gas, the change came

-horridly, and sudden as a flash of lightning. It was like a douche of

-icy water, and in the middle of this storm of laughter--"

-

-"Yes; what?" asked the doctor, leaning forward and peering into his

-eyes.

-

-"--I was overwhelmed with terror," said Pender, lowering his reedy

-voice at the mere recollection of it.

-

-He paused a moment and mopped his forehead. The scared, hunted look in

-his eyes now dominated the whole face. Yet, all the time, the corners of

-his mouth hinted of possible laughter as though the recollection of that

-merriment still amused him. The combination of fear and laughter in his

-face was very curious, and lent great conviction to his story; it also

-lent a bizarre expression of horror to his gestures.

-

-"Terror, was it?" repeated the doctor soothingly.

-

-"Yes, terror; for, though the Thing that woke me seemed to have gone,

-the memory of it still frightened me, and I collapsed into a chair. Then

-I locked the door and tried to reason with myself, but the drug made my

-movements so prolonged that it took me five minutes to reach the door,

-and another five to get back to the chair again. The laughter, too, kept

-bubbling up inside me--great wholesome laughter that shook me like gusts

-of wind--so that even my terror almost made me laugh. Oh, but I may tell

-you, Dr. Silence, it was altogether vile, that mixture of fear and

-laughter, altogether vile!

-

-"Then, all at once, the things in the room again presented their funny

-side to me and set me off laughing more furiously than ever. The

-bookcase was ludicrous, the arm-chair a perfect clown, the way the clock

-looked at me on the mantelpiece too comic for words; the arrangement of

-papers and inkstand on the desk tickled me till I roared and shook and

-held my sides and the tears streamed down my cheeks. And that footstool!

-Oh, that absurd footstool!"

-

-He lay back in his chair, laughing to himself and holding up his hands

-at the thought of it, and at the sight of him Dr. Silence laughed too.

-

-"Go on, please," he said, "I quite understand. I know something myself

-of the hashish laughter."

-

-The author pulled himself together and resumed, his face growing quickly

-grave again.

-

-"So, you see, side by side with this extravagant, apparently causeless

-merriment, there was also an extravagant, apparently causeless, terror.

-The drug produced the laughter, I knew; but what brought in the terror I

-could not imagine. Everywhere behind the fun lay the fear. It was terror

-masked by cap and bells; and I became the playground for two opposing

-emotions, armed and fighting to the death. Gradually, then, the

-impression grew in me that this fear was caused by the invasion--so you

-called it just now--of the 'person' who had wakened me; she was utterly

-evil; inimical to my soul, or at least to all in me that wished for

-good. There I stood, sweating and trembling, laughing at everything in

-the room, yet all the while with this white terror mastering my heart.

-And this creature was putting--putting her--"

-

-He hesitated again, using his handkerchief freely.

-

-"Putting what?"

-

-"--putting ideas into my mind," he went on, glancing nervously about the

-room. "Actually tapping my thought-stream so as to switch off the usual

-current and inject her own. How mad that sounds! I know it, but it's

-true. It's the only way I can express it. Moreover, while the operation

-terrified me, the skill with which it was accomplished filled me afresh

-with laughter at the clumsiness of men by comparison. Our ignorant,

-bungling methods of teaching the minds of others, of inculcating ideas,

-and so on, overwhelmed me with laughter when I understood this superior

-and diabolical method. Yet my laughter seemed hollow and ghastly, and

-ideas of evil and tragedy trod close upon the heels of the comic. Oh,

-doctor, I tell you again, it was unnerving!"

-

-John Silence sat with his head thrust forward to catch every word of the

-story which the other continued to pour out in nervous, jerky sentences

-and lowered voice.

-

-"You _saw_ nothing--no one--all this time?" he asked.

-

-"Not with my eyes. There was no visual hallucination. But in my mind

-there began to grow the vivid picture of a woman--large, dark-skinned,

-with white teeth and masculine features, and one eye--the left--so

-drooping as to appear almost closed. Oh, such a face--!"

-

-"A face you would recognize again?"

-

-Pender laughed dreadfully.

-

-"I wish I could forget it," he whispered, "I only wish I could forget

-it!" Then he sat forward in his chair suddenly, and grasped the doctor's

-hand with an emotional gesture.

-

-"I _must_ tell you how grateful I am for your patience and sympathy," he

-cried, with a tremor in his voice, "and--that you do not think me mad. I

-have told no one else a quarter of all this, and the mere freedom of

-speech--the relief of sharing my affliction with another--has helped me

-already more than I can possibly say."

-

-Dr. Silence pressed his hand and looked steadily into the frightened

-eyes. His voice was very gentle when he replied.

-

-"Your case, you know, is very singular, but of absorbing interest to

-me," he said, "for it threatens, not your physical existence, but the

-temple of your psychical existence--the inner life. Your mind would not

-be permanently affected here and now, in this world; but in the

-existence after the body is left behind, you might wake up with your

-spirit so twisted, so distorted, so befouled, that you would be

-_spiritually insane_--a far more radical condition than merely being

-insane here."

-

-There came a strange hush over the room, and between the two men sitting

-there facing one another.

-

-"Do you really mean--Good Lord!" stammered the author as soon as he

-could find his tongue.

-

-"What I mean in detail will keep till a little later, and I need only

-say now that I should not have spoken in this way unless I were quite

-positive of being able to help you. Oh, there's no doubt as to that,

-believe me. In the first place, I am very familiar with the workings of

-this extraordinary drug, this drug which has had the chance effect of

-opening you up to the forces of another region; and, in the second, I

-have a firm belief in the reality of super-sensuous occurrences as well

-as considerable knowledge of psychic processes acquired by long and

-painful experiment. The rest is, or should be, merely sympathetic

-treatment and practical application. The hashish has partially opened

-another world to you by increasing your rate of psychical vibration, and

-thus rendering you abnormally sensitive. Ancient forces attached to this

-house have attacked you. For the moment I am only puzzled as to their

-precise nature; for were they of an ordinary character, I should myself

-be psychic enough to feel them. Yet I am conscious of feeling nothing as

-yet. But now, please continue, Mr. Pender, and tell me the rest of your

-wonderful story; and when you have finished, I will talk about the means

-of cure."

-

-Pender shifted his chair a little closer to the friendly doctor and then

-went on in the same nervous voice with his narrative.

-

-"After making some notes of my impressions I finally got upstairs again

-to bed. It was four o'clock in the morning. I laughed all the way up--at

-the grotesque banisters, the droll physiognomy of the staircase window,

-the burlesque grouping of the furniture, and the memory of that

-outrageous footstool in the room below; but nothing more happened to

-alarm or disturb me, and I woke late in the morning after a dreamless

-sleep, none the worse for my experiment except for a slight headache and

-a coldness of the extremities due to lowered circulation."

-

-"Fear gone, too?" asked the doctor.

-

-"I seemed to have forgotten it, or at least ascribed it to mere

-nervousness. Its reality had gone, anyhow for the time, and all that day

-I wrote and wrote and wrote. My sense of laughter seemed wonderfully

-quickened and my characters acted without effort out of the heart of

-true humour. I was exceedingly pleased with this result of my

-experiment. But when the stenographer had taken her departure and I came

-to read over the pages she had typed out, I recalled her sudden glances

-of surprise and the odd way she had looked up at me while I was

-dictating. I was amazed at what I read and could hardly believe I had

-uttered it."

-

-"And why?"

-

-"It was so distorted. The words, indeed, were mine so far as I could

-remember, but the meanings seemed strange. It frightened me. The sense

-was so altered. At the very places where my characters were intended to

-tickle the ribs, only curious emotions of sinister amusement resulted.

-Dreadful innuendoes had managed to creep into the phrases. There was

-laughter of a kind, but it was bizarre, horrible, distressing; and my

-attempt at analysis only increased my dismay. The story, as it read

-then, made me shudder, for by virtue of these slight changes it had come

-somehow to hold the soul of horror, of horror disguised as merriment.

-The framework of humour was there, if you understand me, but the

-characters had turned sinister, and their laughter was evil."

-

-"Can you show me this writing?"

-

-The author shook his head.

-

-"I destroyed it," he whispered. "But, in the end, though of course much

-perturbed about it, I persuaded myself that it was due to some

-after-effect of the drug, a sort of reaction that gave a twist to my

-mind and made me read macabre interpretations into words and situations

-that did not properly hold them."

-

-"And, meanwhile, did the presence of this person leave you?"

-

-"No; that stayed more or less. When my mind was actively employed I

-forgot it, but when idle, dreaming, or doing nothing in particular,

-there she was beside me, influencing my mind horribly--"

-

-"In what way, precisely?" interrupted the doctor.

-

-"Evil, scheming thoughts came to me, visions of crime, hateful pictures

-of wickedness, and the kind of bad imagination that so far has been

-foreign, indeed impossible, to my normal nature--"

-

-"The pressure of the Dark Powers upon the personality," murmured the

-doctor, making a quick note.

-

-"Eh? I didn't quite catch--"

-

-"Pray, go on. I am merely making notes; you shall know their purport

-fully later."

-

-"Even when my wife returned I was still aware of this Presence in the

-house; it associated itself with my inner personality in most intimate

-fashion; and outwardly I always felt oddly constrained to be polite and

-respectful towards it--to open doors, provide chairs and hold myself

-carefully deferential when it was about. It became very compelling at

-last, and, if I failed in any little particular, I seemed to know that

-it pursued me about the house, from one room to another, haunting my

-very soul in its inmost abode. It certainly came before my wife so far

-as my attentions were concerned.

-

-"But, let me first finish the story of my experimental dose, for I took

-it again the third night, and underwent a very similar experience,

-delayed like the first in coming, and then carrying me off my feet when

-it did come with a rush of this false demon-laughter. This time,

-however, there was a reversal of the changed scale of space and time; it

-shortened instead of lengthened, so that I dressed and got downstairs

-in about twenty seconds, and the couple of hours I stayed and worked in

-the study passed literally like a period of ten minutes."

-

-"That is often true of an overdose," interjected the doctor, "and you

-may go a mile in a few minutes, or a few yards in a quarter of an hour.

-It is quite incomprehensible to those who have never experienced it, and

-is a curious proof that time and space are merely forms of thought."

-

-"This time," Pender went on, talking more and more rapidly in his

-excitement, "another extraordinary effect came to me, and I experienced

-a curious changing of the senses, so that I perceived external things

-through one large main sense-channel instead of through the five

-divisions known as sight, smell, touch, and so forth. You will, I know,

-understand me when I tell you that I _heard_ sights and _saw_ sounds. No

-language can make this comprehensible, of course, and I can only say,

-for instance, that the striking of the clock I saw as a visible picture

-in the air before me. I saw the sounds of the tinkling bell. And in

-precisely the same way I heard the colours in the room, especially the

-colours of those books in the shelf behind you. Those red bindings I

-heard in deep sounds, and the yellow covers of the French bindings next

-to them made a shrill, piercing note not unlike the chattering of

-starlings. That brown bookcase muttered, and those green curtains

-opposite kept up a constant sort of rippling sound like the lower notes

-of a woodhorn. But I only was conscious of these sounds when I looked

-steadily at the different objects, and thought about them. The room, you

-understand, was not full of a chorus of notes; but when I concentrated

-my mind upon a colour, I heard, as well as saw, it."

-

-"That is a known, though rarely-obtained, effect of _Cannabis indica_,"

-observed the doctor. "And it provoked laughter again, did it?"

-

-"Only the muttering of the cupboard-bookcase made me laugh. It was so

-like a great animal trying to get itself noticed, and made me think of a

-performing bear--which is full of a kind of pathetic humour, you know.

-But this mingling of the senses produced no confusion in my brain. On

-the contrary, I was unusually clear-headed and experienced an

-intensification of consciousness, and felt marvellously alive and

-keen-minded.

-

-"Moreover, when I took up a pencil in obedience to an impulse to

-sketch--a talent not normally mine--I found that I could draw nothing

-but heads, nothing, in fact, but one head--always the same--the head of

-a dark-skinned woman, with huge and terrible features and a very

-drooping left eye; and so well drawn, too, that I was amazed, as you may

-imagine--"

-

-"And the expression of the face--?"

-

-Pender hesitated a moment for words, casting about with his hands in the

-air and hunching his shoulders. A perceptible shudder ran over him.

-

-"What I can only describe as--_blackness_," he replied in a low tone;

-"the face of a dark and evil soul."

-

-"You destroyed that, too?" queried the doctor sharply.

-

-"No; I have kept the drawings," he said, with a laugh, and rose to get

-them from a drawer in the writing-desk behind him.

-

-"Here is all that remains of the pictures, you see," he added, pushing a

-number of loose sheets under the doctor's eyes; "nothing but a few

-scrawly lines. That's all I found the next morning. I had really drawn

-no heads at all--nothing but those lines and blots and wriggles. The

-pictures were entirely subjective, and existed only in my mind which

-constructed them out of a few wild strokes of the pen. Like the altered

-scale of space and time it was a complete delusion. These all passed, of

-course, with the passing of the drug's effects. But the other thing did

-not pass. I mean, the presence of that Dark Soul remained with me. It is

-here still. It is real. I don't know how I can escape from it."

-

-"It is attached to the house, not to you personally. You must leave the

-house."

-

-"Yes. Only I cannot afford to leave the house, for my work is my sole

-means of support, and--well, you see, since this change I cannot even

-write. They are horrible, these mirthless tales I now write, with their

-mockery of laughter, their diabolical suggestion. Horrible! I shall go

-mad if this continues."

-

-He screwed his face up and looked about the room as though he expected

-to see some haunting shape.

-

-"The influence in this house, induced by my experiment, has killed in a

-flash, in a sudden stroke, the sources of my humour, and, though I still

-go on writing funny tales--I have a certain name, you know--my

-inspiration has dried up, and much of what I write I have to burn--yes,

-doctor, to burn, before any one sees it."

-

-"As utterly alien to your own mind and personality?"

-

-"Utterly! As though some one else had written it--"

-

-"Ah!"

-

-"And shocking!" He passed his hand over his eyes a moment and let the

-breath escape softly through his teeth. "Yet most damnably clever in the

-consummate way the vile suggestions are insinuated under cover of a kind

-of high drollery. My stenographer left me, of course--and I've been

-afraid to take another--"

-

-John Silence got up and began to walk about the room leisurely without

-speaking; he appeared to be examining the pictures on the wall and

-reading the names of the books lying about. Presently he paused on the

-hearthrug, with his back to the fire, and turned to look his patient

-quietly in the eyes. Pender's face was grey and drawn; the hunted

-expression dominated it; the long recital had told upon him.

-

-"Thank you, Mr. Pender," he said, a curious glow showing about his fine,

-quiet face, "thank you for the sincerity and frankness of your account.

-But I think now there is nothing further I need ask you." He indulged in

-a long scrutiny of the author's haggard features, drawing purposely the

-man's eyes to his own and then meeting them with a look of power and

-confidence calculated to inspire even the feeblest soul with courage.

-"And, to begin with," he added, smiling pleasantly, "let me assure you

-without delay that you need have no alarm, for you are no more insane

-or deluded than I myself am--"

-

-Pender heaved a deep sigh and tried to return the smile.

-

-"--and this is simply a case, so far as I can judge at present, of a

-very singular psychical invasion, and a very sinister one, too, if you

-perhaps understand what I mean--"

-

-"It's an odd expression; you used it before, you know," said the author

-wearily, yet eagerly listening to every word of the diagnosis, and

-deeply touched by the intelligent sympathy which did not at once

-indicate the lunatic asylum.

-

-"Possibly," returned the other, "and an odd affliction too, you'll

-allow, yet one not unknown to the nations of antiquity, nor to those

-moderns, perhaps, who recognize the freedom of action under certain

-pathogenic conditions between this world and another."

-

-"And you think," asked Pender hastily, "that it is all primarily due to

-the _Cannabis_? There is nothing radically amiss with myself--nothing

-incurable, or--?"

-

-"Due entirely to the overdose," Dr. Silence replied emphatically, "to

-the drug's direct action upon your psychical being. It rendered you

-ultra-sensitive and made you respond to an increased rate of vibration.

-And, let me tell you, Mr. Pender, that your experiment might have had

-results far more dire. It has brought you into touch with a somewhat

-singular class of Invisible, but of one, I think, chiefly human in

-character. You might, however, just as easily have been drawn out of

-human range altogether, and the results of such a contingency would

-have been exceedingly terrible. Indeed, you would not now be here to

-tell the tale. I need not alarm you on that score, but mention it as a

-warning you will not misunderstand or underrate after what you have been

-through.

-

-"You look puzzled. You do not quite gather what I am driving at; and it

-is not to be expected that you should, for you, I suppose, are the

-nominal Christian with the nominal Christian's lofty standard of ethics,

-and his utter ignorance of spiritual possibilities. Beyond a somewhat

-childish understanding of 'spiritual wickedness in high places,' you

-probably have no conception of what is possible once you break down the

-slender gulf that is mercifully fixed between you and that Outer World.

-But my studies and training have taken me far outside these orthodox

-trips, and I have made experiments that I could scarcely speak to you

-about in language that would be intelligible to you."

-

-He paused a moment to note the breathless interest of Pender's face and

-manner. Every word he uttered was calculated; he knew exactly the value

-and effect of the emotions he desired to waken in the heart of the

-afflicted being before him.

-

-"And from certain knowledge I have gained through various experiences,"

-he continued calmly, "I can diagnose your case as I said before to be

-one of psychical invasion."

-

-"And the nature of this--er--invasion?" stammered the bewildered writer

-of humorous tales.

-

-"There is no reason why I should not say at once that I do not yet

-quite know," replied Dr. Silence. "I may first have to make one or two

-experiments--"

-

-"On me?" gasped Pender, catching his breath.

-

-"Not exactly," the doctor said, with a grave smile, "but with your

-assistance, perhaps. I shall want to test the conditions of the

-house--to ascertain, if possible, the character of the forces, of this

-strange personality that has been haunting you--"

-

-"At present you have no idea exactly who--what--why--" asked the other

-in a wild flurry of interest, dread and amazement.

-

-"I have a very good idea, but no proof rather," returned the doctor.

-"The effects of the drug in altering the scale of time and space, and

-merging the senses have nothing primarily to do with the invasion. They

-come to any one who is fool enough to take an experimental dose. It is

-the other features of your case that are unusual. You see, you are now

-in touch with certain violent emotions, desires, purposes, still active

-in this house, that were produced in the past by some powerful and evil

-personality that lived here. How long ago, or why they still persist so

-forcibly, I cannot positively say. But I should judge that they are

-merely forces acting automatically with the momentum of their terrific

-original impetus."

-

-"Not directed by a living being, a conscious will, you mean?"

-

-"Possibly not--but none the less dangerous on that account, and more

-difficult to deal with. I cannot explain to you in a few minutes the

-nature of such things, for you have not made the studies that would

-enable you to follow me; but I have reason to believe that on the

-dissolution at death of a human being, its forces may still persist and

-continue to act in a blind, unconscious fashion. As a rule they speedily

-dissipate themselves, but in the case of a very powerful personality

-they may last a long time. And, in some cases--of which I incline to

-think this is one--these forces may coalesce with certain non-human

-entities who thus continue their life indefinitely and increase their

-strength to an unbelievable degree. If the original personality was

-evil, the beings attracted to the left-over forces will also be evil. In

-this case, I think there has been an unusual and dreadful aggrandizement

-of the thoughts and purposes left behind long ago by a woman of

-consummate wickedness and great personal power of character and

-intellect. Now, do you begin to see what I am driving at a little?"

-

-Pender stared fixedly at his companion, plain horror showing in his

-eyes. But he found nothing to say, and the doctor continued--

-

-"In your case, predisposed by the action of the drug, you have

-experienced the rush of these forces in undiluted strength. They wholly

-obliterate in you the sense of humour, fancy, imagination,--all that

-makes for cheerfulness and hope. They seek, though perhaps automatically

-only, to oust your own thoughts and establish themselves in their place.

-You are the victim of a psychical invasion. At the same time, you have

-become clairvoyant in the true sense. You are also a clairvoyant

-victim."

-

-Pender mopped his face and sighed. He left his chair and went over to

-the fireplace to warm himself.

-

-"You must think me a quack to talk like this, or a madman," laughed Dr.

-Silence. "But never mind that. I have come to help you, and I can help

-you if you will do what I tell you. It is very simple: you must leave

-this house at once. Oh, never mind the difficulties; we will deal with

-those together. I can place another house at your disposal, or I would

-take the lease here off your hands, and later have it pulled down. Your

-case interests me greatly, and I mean to see you through, so you have no

-anxiety, and can drop back into your old groove of work tomorrow! The

-drug has provided you, and therefore me, with a short-cut to a very

-interesting experience. I am grateful to you."

-

-The author poked the fire vigorously, emotion rising in him like a tide.

-He glanced towards the door nervously.

-

-"There is no need to alarm your wife or to tell her the details of our

-conversation," pursued the other quietly. "Let her know that you will

-soon be in possession again of your sense of humour and your health, and

-explain that I am lending you another house for six months. Meanwhile I

-may have the right to use this house for a night or two for my

-experiment. Is that understood between us?"

-

-"I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart," stammered Pender,

-unable to find words to express his gratitude.

-

-Then he hesitated for a moment, searching the doctor's face anxiously.

-

-"And your experiment with the house?" he said at length.

-

-"Of the simplest character, my dear Mr. Pender. Although I am myself an

-artificially trained psychic, and consequently aware of the presence of

-discarnate entities as a rule, I have so far felt nothing here at all.

-This makes me sure that the forces acting here are of an unusual

-description. What I propose to do is to make an experiment with a view

-of drawing out this evil, coaxing it from its lair, so to speak, in

-order that it may _exhaust itself through me_ and become dissipated for

-ever. I have already been inoculated," he added; "I consider myself to

-be immune."

-

-"Heavens above!" gasped the author, collapsing on to a chair.

-

-"Hell beneath! might be a more appropriate exclamation," the doctor

-laughed. "But, seriously, Mr. Pender, that is what I propose to do--with

-your permission."

-

-"Of course, of course," cried the other, "you have my permission and my

-best wishes for success. I can see no possible objection, but--"

-

-"But what?"

-

-"I pray to Heaven you will not undertake this experiment alone, will

-you?"

-

-"Oh dear, no; not alone."

-

-"You will take a companion with good nerves, and reliable in case of

-disaster, won't you?"

-

-"I shall bring two companions," the doctor said.

-

-"Ah, that's better. I feel easier. I am sure you must have among your

-acquaintances men who--"

-

-"I shall not think of bringing men, Mr. Pender."

-

-The other looked up sharply.

-

-"No, or women either; or children."

-

-"I don't understand. Who will you bring, then?"

-

-"Animals," explained the doctor, unable to prevent a smile at his

-companion's expression of surprise--"two animals, a cat and a dog."

-

-Pender stared as if his eyes would drop out upon the floor, and then led

-the way without another word into the adjoining room where his wife was

-awaiting them for tea.

-

-

-II

-

-A few days later the humorist and his wife, with minds greatly relieved,

-moved into a small furnished house placed at their free disposal in

-another part of London; and John Silence, intent upon his approaching

-experiment, made ready to spend a night in the empty house on the top of

-Putney Hill. Only two rooms were prepared for occupation: the study on

-the ground floor and the bedroom immediately above it; all other doors

-were to be locked, and no servant was to be left in the house. The motor

-had orders to call for him at nine o'clock the following morning.

-

-And, meanwhile, his secretary had instructions to look up the past

-history and associations of the place, and learn everything he could

-concerning the character of former occupants, recent or remote.

-

-The animals, by whose sensitiveness he intended to test any unusual

-conditions in the atmosphere of the building, Dr. Silence selected with

-care and judgment. He believed (and had already made curious experiments

-to prove it) that animals were more often, and more truly, clairvoyant

-than human beings. Many of them, he felt convinced, possessed powers of

-perception far superior to that mere keenness of the senses common to

-all dwellers in the wilds where the senses grow specially alert; they

-had what he termed "animal clairvoyance," and from his experiments with

-horses, dogs, cats, and even birds, he had drawn certain deductions,

-which, however, need not be referred to in detail here.

-

-Cats, in particular, he believed, were almost continuously conscious of

-a larger field of vision, too detailed even for a photographic camera,

-and quite beyond the reach of normal human organs. He had, further,

-observed that while dogs were usually terrified in the presence of such

-phenomena, cats on the other hand were soothed and satisfied. They

-welcomed manifestations as something belonging peculiarly to their own

-region.

-

-He selected his animals, therefore, with wisdom so that they might

-afford a differing test, each in its own way, and that one should not

-merely communicate its own excitement to the other. He took a dog and a

-cat.

-

-The cat he chose, now full grown, had lived with him since kittenhood, a

-kittenhood of perplexing sweetness and audacious mischief. Wayward it

-was and fanciful, ever playing its own mysterious games in the corners

-of the room, jumping at invisible nothings, leaping sideways into the

-air and falling with tiny mocassined feet on to another part of the

-carpet, yet with an air of dignified earnestness which showed that the

-performance was necessary to its own well-being, and not done merely to

-impress a stupid human audience. In the middle of elaborate washing it

-would look up, startled, as though to stare at the approach of some

-Invisible, cocking its little head sideways and putting out a velvet pad

-to inspect cautiously. Then it would get absent-minded, and stare with

-equal intentness in another direction (just to confuse the onlookers),

-and suddenly go on furiously washing its body again, but in quite a new

-place. Except for a white patch on its breast it was coal black. And its

-name was--Smoke.

-

-"Smoke" described its temperament as well as its appearance. Its

-movements, its individuality, its posing as a little furry mass of

-concealed mysteries, its elfin-like elusiveness, all combined to justify

-its name; and a subtle painter might have pictured it as a wisp of

-floating smoke, the fire below betraying itself at two points only--the

-glowing eyes.

-

-All its forces ran to intelligence--secret intelligence, wordless,

-incalculable intuition of the Cat. It was, indeed, _the_ cat for the

-business in hand.

-

-The selection of the dog was not so simple, for the doctor owned many;

-but after much deliberation he chose a collie, called Flame from his

-yellow coat. True, it was a trifle old, and stiff in the joints, and

-even beginning to grow deaf, but, on the other hand, it was a very

-particular friend of Smoke's, and had fathered it from kittenhood

-upwards so that a subtle understanding existed between them. It was this

-that turned the balance in its favour, this and its courage. Moreover,

-though good-tempered, it was a terrible fighter, and its anger when

-provoked by a righteous cause was a fury of fire, and irresistible.

-

-It had come to him quite young, straight from the shepherd, with the air

-of the hills yet in its nostrils, and was then little more than skin and

-bones and teeth. For a collie it was sturdily built, its nose blunter

-than most, its yellow hair stiff rather than silky, and it had full

-eyes, unlike the slit eyes of its breed. Only its master could touch it,

-for it ignored strangers, and despised their pattings--when any dared to

-pat it. There was something patriarchal about the old beast. He was in

-earnest, and went through life with tremendous energy and big things in

-view, as though he had the reputation of his whole race to uphold. And

-to watch him fighting against odds was to understand why he was

-terrible.

-

-In his relations with Smoke he was always absurdly gentle; also he was

-fatherly; and at the same time betrayed a certain diffidence or shyness.

-He recognized that Smoke called for strong yet respectful management.

-The cat's circuitous methods puzzled him, and his elaborate pretences

-perhaps shocked the dog's liking for direct, undisguised action. Yet,

-while he failed to comprehend these tortuous feline mysteries, he was

-never contemptuous or condescending; and he presided over the safety of

-his furry black friend somewhat as a father, loving but intuitive, might

-superintend the vagaries of a wayward and talented child. And, in

-return, Smoke rewarded him with exhibitions of fascinating and audacious

-mischief.

-

-And these brief descriptions of their characters are necessary for the

-proper understanding of what subsequently took place.

-

-With Smoke sleeping in the folds of his fur coat, and the collie lying

-watchful on the seat opposite, John Silence went down in his motor after

-dinner on the night of November 15th.

-

-And the fog was so dense that they were obliged to travel at quarter

-speed the entire way.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It was after ten o'clock when he dismissed the motor and entered the

-dingy little house with the latchkey provided by Pender. He found the

-hall gas turned low, and a fire in the study. Books and food had also

-been placed ready by the servant according to instructions. Coils of fog

-rushed in after him through the opened door and filled the hall and

-passage with its cold discomfort.

-

-The first thing Dr. Silence did was to lock up Smoke in the study with a

-saucer of milk before the fire, and then make a search of the house with

-Flame. The dog ran cheerfully behind him all the way while he tried the

-doors of the other rooms to make sure they were locked. He nosed about

-into corners and made little excursions on his own account. His manner

-was expectant. He knew there must be something unusual about the

-proceeding, because it was contrary to the habits of his whole life not

-to be asleep at this hour on the mat in front of the fire. He kept

-looking up into his master's face, as door after door was tried, with an

-expression of intelligent sympathy, but at the same time a certain air

-of disapproval. Yet everything his master did was good in his eyes, and

-he betrayed as little impatience as possible with all this unnecessary

-journeying to and fro. If the doctor was pleased to play this sort of

-game at such an hour of the night, it was surely not for him to object.

-So he played it too; and was very busy and earnest about it into the

-bargain.

-

-After an uneventful search they came down again to the study, and here

-Dr. Silence discovered Smoke washing his face calmly in front of the

-fire. The saucer of milk was licked dry and clean; the preliminary

-examination that cats always make in new surroundings had evidently been

-satisfactorily concluded. He drew an arm-chair up to the fire, stirred

-the coals into a blaze, arranged the table and lamp to his satisfaction

-for reading, and then prepared surreptitiously to watch the animals. He

-wished to observe them carefully without their being aware of it.

-

-Now, in spite of their respective ages, it was the regular custom of

-these two to play together every night before sleep. Smoke always made

-the advances, beginning with grave impudence to pat the dog's tail, and

-Flame played cumbrously, with condescension. It was his duty, rather

-than pleasure; he was glad when it was over, and sometimes he was very

-determined and refused to play at all.

-

-And this night was one of the occasions on which he was firm.

-

-The doctor, looking cautiously over the top of his book, watched the cat

-begin the performance. It started by gazing with an innocent expression

-at the dog where he lay with nose on paws and eyes wide open in the

-middle of the floor. Then it got up and made as though it meant to walk

-to the door, going deliberately and very softly. Flame's eyes followed

-it until it was beyond the range of sight, and then the cat turned

-sharply and began patting his tail tentatively with one paw. The tail

-moved slightly in reply, and Smoke changed paws and tapped it again. The

-dog, however, did not rise to play as was his wont, and the cat fell to

-patting it briskly with both paws. Flame still lay motionless.

-

-This puzzled and bored the cat, and it went round and stared hard into

-its friend's face to see what was the matter. Perhaps some inarticulate

-message flashed from the dog's eyes into its own little brain, making it

-understand that the program for the night had better not begin with

-play. Perhaps it only realized that its friend was immovable. But,

-whatever the reason, its usual persistence thenceforward deserted it,

-and it made no further attempts at persuasion. Smoke yielded at once to

-the dog's mood; it sat down where it was and began to wash.

-

-But the washing, the doctor noted, was by no means its real purpose; it

-only used it to mask something else; it stopped at the most busy and

-furious moments and began to stare about the room. Its thoughts wandered

-absurdly. It peered intently at the curtains; at the shadowy corners; at

-empty space above; leaving its body in curiously awkward positions for

-whole minutes together. Then it turned sharply and stared with a sudden

-signal of intelligence at the dog, and Flame at once rose somewhat

-stiffly to his feet and began to wander aimlessly and restlessly to and

-fro about the floor. Smoke followed him, padding quietly at his heels.

-Between them they made what seemed to be a deliberate search of the

-room.

-

-And, here, as he watched them, noting carefully every detail of the

-performance over the top of his book, yet making no effort to interfere,

-it seemed to the doctor that the first beginnings of a faint distress

-betrayed themselves in the collie, and in the cat the stirrings of a

-vague excitement.

-

-He observed them closely. The fog was thick in the air, and the tobacco

-smoke from his pipe added to its density; the furniture at the far end

-stood mistily, and where the shadows congregated in hanging clouds under

-the ceiling, it was difficult to see clearly at all; the lamplight only

-reached to a level of five feet from the floor, above which came layers

-of comparative darkness, so that the room appeared twice as lofty as it

-actually was. By means of the lamp and the fire, however, the carpet was

-everywhere clearly visible.

-

-The animals made their silent tour of the floor, sometimes the dog

-leading, sometimes the cat; occasionally they looked at one another as

-though exchanging signals; and once or twice, in spite of the limited

-space, he lost sight of one or other among the fog and the shadows.

-Their curiosity, it appeared to him, was something more than the

-excitement lurking in the unknown territory of a strange room; yet, so

-far, it was impossible to test this, and he purposely kept his mind

-quietly receptive lest the smallest mental excitement on his part should

-communicate itself to the animals and thus destroy the value of their

-independent behaviour.

-

-They made a very thorough journey, leaving no piece of furniture

-unexamined, or unsmelt. Flame led the way, walking slowly with lowered

-head, and Smoke followed demurely at his heels, making a transparent

-pretence of not being interested, yet missing nothing. And, at length,

-they returned, the old collie first, and came to rest on the mat before

-the fire. Flame rested his muzzle on his master's knee, smiling

-beatifically while he patted the yellow head and spoke his name; and

-Smoke, coming a little later, pretending he came by chance, looked from

-the empty saucer to his face, lapped up the milk when it was given him

-to the last drop, and then sprang upon his knees and curled round for

-the sleep it had fully earned and intended to enjoy.

-

-Silence descended upon the room. Only the breathing of the dog upon the

-mat came through the deep stillness, like the pulse of time marking the

-minutes; and the steady drip, drip of the fog outside upon the

-window-ledges dismally testified to the inclemency of the night beyond.

-And the soft crashings of the coals as the fire settled down into the

-grate became less and less audible as the fire sank and the flames

-resigned their fierceness.

-

-It was now well after eleven o'clock, and Dr. Silence devoted himself

-again to his book. He read the words on the printed page and took in

-their meaning superficially, yet without starting into life the

-correlations of thought and suggestion that should accompany interesting

-reading. Underneath, all the while, his mental energies were absorbed in

-watching, listening, waiting for what might come. He was not over

-sanguine himself, yet he did not wish to be taken by surprise.

-Moreover, the animals, his sensitive barometers, had incontinently gone

-to sleep.

-

-After reading a dozen pages, however, he realized that his mind was

-really occupied in reviewing the features of Pender's extraordinary

-story, and that it was no longer necessary to steady his imagination by

-studying the dull paragraphs detailed in the pages before him. He laid

-down his book accordingly, and allowed his thoughts to dwell upon the

-features of the Case. Speculations as to the meaning, however, he

-rigorously suppressed, knowing that such thoughts would act upon his

-imagination like wind upon the glowing embers of a fire.

-

-As the night wore on the silence grew deeper and deeper, and only at

-rare intervals he heard the sound of wheels on the main road a hundred

-yards away, where the horses went at a walking pace owing to the density

-of the fog. The echo of pedestrian footsteps no longer reached him, the

-clamour of occasional voices no longer came down the side street. The

-night, muffled by fog, shrouded by veils of ultimate mystery, hung about

-the haunted villa like a doom. Nothing in the house stirred. Stillness,

-in a thick blanket, lay over the upper storeys. Only the mist in the

-room grew more dense, he thought, and the damp cold more penetrating.

-Certainly, from time to time, he shivered.

-

-The collie, now deep in slumber, moved occasionally,--grunted, sighed,

-or twitched his legs in dreams. Smoke lay on his knees, a pool of warm,

-black fur, only the closest observation detecting the movement of his

-sleek sides. It was difficult to distinguish exactly where his head and

-body joined in that circle of glistening hair; only a black satin nose

-and a tiny tip of pink tongue betrayed the secret.

-

-Dr. Silence watched him, and felt comfortable. The collie's breathing

-was soothing. The fire was well built, and would burn for another two

-hours without attention. He was not conscious of the least nervousness.

-He particularly wished to remain in his ordinary and normal state of

-mind, and to force nothing. If sleep came naturally, he would let it

-come--and even welcome it. The coldness of the room, when the fire died

-down later, would be sure to wake him again; and it would then be time

-enough to carry these sleeping barometers up to bed. From various

-psychic premonitions he knew quite well that the night would not pass

-without adventure; but he did not wish to force its arrival; and he

-wished to remain normal, and let the animals remain normal, so that,

-when it came, it would be unattended by excitement or by any straining

-of the attention. Many experiments had made him wise. And, for the rest,

-he had no fear.

-

-Accordingly, after a time, he did fall asleep as he had expected, and

-the last thing he remembered, before oblivion slipped up over his eyes

-like soft wool, was the picture of Flame stretching all four legs at

-once, and sighing noisily as he sought a more comfortable position for

-his paws and muzzle upon the mat.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It was a good deal later when he became aware that a weight lay upon his

-chest, and that something was pencilling over his face and mouth. A soft

-touch on the cheek woke him. Something was patting him.

-

-He sat up with a jerk, and found himself staring straight into a pair of

-brilliant eyes, half green, half black. Smoke's face lay level with his

-own; and the cat had climbed up with its front paws upon his chest.

-

-The lamp had burned low and the fire was nearly out, yet Dr. Silence saw

-in a moment that the cat was in an excited state. It kneaded with its

-front paws into his chest, shifting from one to the other. He felt them

-prodding against him. It lifted a leg very carefully and patted his

-cheek gingerly. Its fur, he saw, was standing ridgewise upon its back;

-the ears were flattened back somewhat; the tail was switching sharply.

-The cat, of course, had wakened him with a purpose, and the instant he

-realized this, he set it upon the arm of the chair and sprang up with a

-quick turn to face the empty room behind him. By some curious instinct,

-his arms of their own accord assumed an attitude of defence in front of

-him, as though to ward off something that threatened his safety. Yet

-nothing was visible. Only shapes of fog hung about rather heavily in the

-air, moving slightly to and fro.

-

-His mind was now fully alert, and the last vestiges of sleep gone. He

-turned the lamp higher and peered about him. Two things he became aware

-of at once: one, that Smoke, while excited, was _pleasurably_ excited;

-the other, that the collie was no longer visible upon the mat at his

-feet. He had crept away to the corner of the wall farthest from the

-window, and lay watching the room with wide-open eyes, in which lurked

-plainly something of alarm.

-

-Something in the dog's behaviour instantly struck Dr. Silence as

-unusual, and, calling him by name, he moved across to pat him. Flame got

-up, wagged his tail, and came over slowly to the rug, uttering a low

-sound that was half growl, half whine. He was evidently perturbed about

-something, and his master was proceeding to administer comfort when his

-attention was suddenly drawn to the antics of his other four-footed

-companion, the cat.

-

-And what he saw filled him with something like amazement.

-

-Smoke had jumped down from the back of the arm-chair and now occupied

-the middle of the carpet, where, with tail erect and legs stiff as

-ramrods, it was steadily pacing backwards and forwards in a narrow

-space, uttering, as it did so, those curious little guttural sounds of

-pleasure that only an animal of the feline species knows how to make

-expressive of supreme happiness. Its stiffened legs and arched back made

-it appear larger than usual, and the black visage wore a smile of

-beatific joy. Its eyes blazed magnificently; it was in an ecstasy.

-

-At the end of every few paces it turned sharply and stalked back again

-along the same line, padding softly, and purring like a roll of little

-muffled drums. It behaved precisely as though it were rubbing against

-the ankles of some one who remained invisible. A thrill ran down the

-doctor's spine as he stood and stared. His experiment was growing

-interesting at last.

-

-He called the collie's attention to his friend's performance to see

-whether he too was aware of anything standing there upon the carpet, and

-the dog's behaviour was significant and corroborative. He came as far

-as his master's knees and then stopped dead, refusing to investigate

-closely. In vain Dr. Silence urged him; he wagged his tail, whined a

-little, and stood in a half-crouching attitude, staring alternately at

-the cat and at his master's face. He was, apparently, both puzzled and

-alarmed, and the whine went deeper and deeper down into his throat till

-it changed into an ugly snarl of awakening anger.

-

-Then the doctor called to him in a tone of command he had never known to

-be disregarded; but still the dog, though springing up in response,

-declined to move nearer. He made tentative motions, pranced a little

-like a dog about to take to water, pretended to bark, and ran to and fro

-on the carpet. So far there was no actual fear in his manner, but he was

-uneasy and anxious, and nothing would induce him to go within touching

-distance of the walking cat. Once he made a complete circuit, but always

-carefully out of reach; and in the end he returned to his master's legs

-and rubbed vigorously against him. Flame did not like the performance at

-all: that much was quite clear.

-

-For several minutes John Silence watched the performance of the cat with

-profound attention and without interfering. Then he called to the animal

-by name.

-

-"Smoke, you mysterious beastie, what in the world are you about?" he

-said, in a coaxing tone.

-

-The cat looked up at him for a moment, smiling in its ecstasy, blinking

-its eyes, but too happy to pause. He spoke to it again. He called to it

-several times, and each time it turned upon him its blazing eyes, drunk

-with inner delight, opening and shutting its lips, its body large and

-rigid with excitement. Yet it never for one instant paused in its short

-journeys to and fro.

-

-He noted exactly what it did: it walked, he saw, the same number of

-paces each time, some six or seven steps, and then it turned sharply and

-retraced them. By the pattern of the great roses in the carpet he

-measured it. It kept to the same direction and the same line. It behaved

-precisely as though it were rubbing against something solid.

-Undoubtedly, there was something standing there on that strip of carpet,

-something invisible to the doctor, something that alarmed the dog, yet

-caused the cat unspeakable pleasure.

-

-"Smokie!" he called again, "Smokie, you black mystery, what is it

-excites you so?"

-

-Again the cat looked up at him for a brief second, and then continued

-its sentry-walk, blissfully happy, intensely preoccupied. And, for an

-instant, as he watched it, the doctor was aware that a faint uneasiness

-stirred in the depths of his own being, focusing itself for the moment

-upon this curious behaviour of the uncanny creature before him.

-

-There rose in him quite a new realization of the mystery connected with

-the whole feline tribe, but especially with that common member of it,

-the domestic cat--their hidden lives, their strange aloofness, their

-incalculable subtlety. How utterly remote from anything that human

-beings understood lay the sources of their elusive activities. As he

-watched the indescribable bearing of the little creature mincing along

-the strip of carpet under his eyes, coquetting with the powers of

-darkness, welcoming, maybe, some fearsome visitor, there stirred in his

-heart a feeling strangely akin to awe. Its indifference to human kind,

-its serene superiority to the obvious, struck him forcibly with fresh

-meaning; so remote, so inaccessible seemed the secret purposes of its

-real life, so alien to the blundering honesty of other animals. Its

-absolute poise of bearing brought into his mind the opium-eater's words

-that "no dignity is perfect which does not at some point ally itself

-with the mysterious"; and he became suddenly aware that the presence of

-the dog in this foggy, haunted room on the top of Putney Hill was

-uncommonly welcome to him. He was glad to feel that Flame's dependable

-personality was with him. The savage growling at his heels was a

-pleasant sound. He was glad to hear it. That marching cat made him

-uneasy.

-

-Finding that Smoke paid no further attention to his words, the doctor

-decided upon action. Would it rub against his leg, too? He would take it

-by surprise and see.

-

-He stepped quickly forward and placed himself upon the exact strip of

-carpet where it walked.

-

-But no cat is ever taken by surprise! The moment he occupied the space

-of the Intruder, setting his feet on the woven roses midway in the line

-of travel, Smoke suddenly stopped purring and sat down. It lifted up its

-face with the most innocent stare imaginable of its green eyes. He could

-have sworn it laughed. It was a perfect child again. In a single second

-it had resumed its simple, domestic manner; and it gazed at him in such

-a way that he almost felt Smoke was the normal being, and _his_ was the

-eccentric behaviour that was being watched. It was consummate, the

-manner in which it brought about this change so easily and so quickly.

-

-"Superb little actor!" he laughed in spite of himself, and stooped to

-stroke the shining black back. But, in a flash, as he touched its fur,

-the cat turned and spat at him viciously, striking at his hand with one

-paw. Then, with a hurried scutter of feet, it shot like a shadow across

-the floor and a moment later was calmly sitting over by the

-window-curtains washing its face as though nothing interested it in the

-whole world but the cleanness of its cheeks and whiskers.

-

-John Silence straightened himself up and drew a long breath. He realized

-that the performance was temporarily at an end. The collie, meanwhile,

-who had watched the whole proceeding with marked disapproval, had now

-lain down again upon the mat by the fire, no longer growling. It seemed

-to the doctor just as though something that had entered the room while

-he slept, alarming the dog, yet bringing happiness to the cat, had now

-gone out again, leaving all as it was before. Whatever it was that

-excited its blissful attentions had retreated for the moment.

-

-He realized this intuitively. Smoke evidently realized it, too, for

-presently he deigned to march back to the fireplace and jump upon his

-master's knees. Dr. Silence, patient and determined, settled down once

-more to his book. The animals soon slept; the fire blazed cheerfully;

-and the cold fog from outside poured into the room through every

-available chink and crannie.

-

-For a long time silence and peace reigned in the room and Dr. Silence

-availed himself of the quietness to make careful notes of what had

-happened. He entered for future use in other cases an exhaustive

-analysis of what he had observed, especially with regard to the effect

-upon the two animals. It is impossible here, nor would it be

-intelligible to the reader unversed in the knowledge of the region known

-to a scientifically trained psychic like Dr. Silence, to detail these

-observations. But to him it was clear, up to a certain point--and for

-the rest he must still wait and watch. So far, at least, he realized

-that while he slept in the chair--that is, while his will was

-dormant--the room had suffered intrusion from what he recognized as an

-intensely active Force, and might later be forced to acknowledge as

-something more than merely a blind force, namely, a distinct

-personality.

-

-So far it had affected himself scarcely at all, but had acted directly

-upon the simpler organisms of the animals. It stimulated keenly the

-centres of the cat's psychic being, inducing a state of instant

-happiness (intensifying its consciousness probably in the same way a

-drug or stimulant intensifies that of a human being); whereas it alarmed

-the less sensitive dog, causing it to feel a vague apprehension and

-distress.

-

-His own sudden action and exhibition of energy had served to disperse it

-temporarily, yet he felt convinced--the indications were not lacking

-even while he sat there making notes--that it still remained near to

-him, conditionally if not spatially, and was, as it were, gathering

-force for a second attack.

-

-And, further, he intuitively understood that the relations between the

-two animals had undergone a subtle change: that the cat had become

-immeasurably superior, confident, sure of itself in its own peculiar

-region, whereas Flame had been weakened by an attack he could not

-comprehend and knew not how to reply to. Though not yet afraid, he was

-defiant--ready to act against a fear that he felt to be approaching. He

-was no longer fatherly and protective towards the cat. Smoke held the

-key to the situation; and both he and the cat knew it.

-

-Thus, as the minutes passed, John Silence sat and waited, keenly on the

-alert, wondering how soon the attack would be renewed, and at what point

-it would be diverted from the animals and directed upon himself.

-

-The book lay on the floor beside him, his notes were complete. With one

-hand on the cat's fur, and the dog's front paws resting against his

-feet, the three of them dozed comfortably before the hot fire while the

-night wore on and the silence deepened towards midnight.

-

-It was well after one o'clock in the morning when Dr. Silence turned the

-lamp out and lighted the candle preparatory to going up to bed. Then

-Smoke suddenly woke with a loud sharp purr and sat up. It neither

-stretched, washed nor turned: it listened. And the doctor, watching it,

-realized that a certain indefinable change had come about that very

-moment in the room. A swift readjustment of the forces within the four

-walls had taken place--a new disposition of their personal equations.

-The balance was destroyed, the former harmony gone. Smoke, most

-sensitive of barometers, had been the first to feel it, but the dog was

-not slow to follow suit, for on looking down he noted that Flame was no

-longer asleep. He was lying with eyes wide open, and that same instant

-he sat up on his great haunches and began to growl.

-

-Dr. Silence was in the act of taking the matches to re-light the lamp

-when an audible movement in the room behind made him pause. Smoke leaped

-down from his knee and moved a few paces across the carpet. Then it

-stopped and stared fixedly; and the doctor stood up on the rug to watch.

-

-As he rose the sound was repeated, and he discovered that it was not in

-the room as he first thought, but outside, and that it came from more

-directions than one. There was a rushing, sweeping noise against the

-window-panes, and simultaneously a sound of something brushing against

-the door--out in the hall. Smoke advanced sedately across the carpet,

-twitching his tail, and sat down within a foot of the door. The

-influence that had destroyed the harmonious conditions of the room had

-apparently moved in advance of its cause. Clearly, something was about

-to happen.

-

-For the first time that night John Silence hesitated; the thought of

-that dark narrow hall-way, choked with fog, and destitute of human

-comfort, was unpleasant. He became aware of a faint creeping of his

-flesh. He knew, of course, that the actual opening of the door was not

-necessary to the invasion of the room that was about to take place,

-since neither doors nor windows, nor any other solid barriers could

-interpose an obstacle to what was seeking entrance. Yet the opening of

-the door would be significant and symbolic, and he distinctly shrank

-from it.

-

-But for a moment only. Smoke, turning with a show of impatience,

-recalled him to his purpose, and he moved past the sitting, watching

-creature, and deliberately opened the door to its full width.

-

-What subsequently happened, happened in the feeble and flickering light

-of the solitary candle on the mantelpiece.

-

-Through the opened door he saw the hall, dimly lit and thick with fog.

-Nothing, of course, was visible--nothing but the hat-stand, the African

-spears in dark lines upon the wall and the high-backed wooden chair

-standing grotesquely underneath on the oilcloth floor. For one instant

-the fog seemed to move and thicken oddly; but he set that down to the

-score of the imagination. The door had opened upon nothing.

-

-Yet Smoke apparently thought otherwise, and the deep growling of the

-collie from the mat at the back of the room seemed to confirm his

-judgment.

-

-For, proud and self-possessed, the cat had again risen to his feet, and

-having advanced to the door, was now ushering some one slowly into the

-room. Nothing could have been more evident. He paced from side to side,

-bowing his little head with great _empressement_ and holding his

-stiffened tail aloft like a flagstaff. He turned this way and that,

-mincing to and fro, and showing signs of supreme satisfaction. He was in

-his element. He welcomed the intrusion, and apparently reckoned that his

-companions, the doctor and the dog, would welcome it likewise.

-

-The Intruder had returned for a second attack.

-

-Dr. Silence moved slowly backwards and took up his position on the

-hearthrug, keying himself up to a condition of concentrated attention.

-

-He noted that Flame stood beside him, facing the room, with body

-motionless, and head moving swiftly from side to side with a curious

-swaying movement. His eyes were wide open, his back rigid, his neck and

-jaws thrust forward, his legs tense and ready to leap. Savage, ready for

-attack or defence, yet dreadfully puzzled and perhaps already a little

-cowed, he stood and stared, the hair on his spine and sides positively

-bristling outwards as though a wind played through them. In the dim

-firelight he looked like a great yellow-haired wolf, silent, eyes

-shooting dark fire, exceedingly formidable. It was Flame, the terrible.

-

-Smoke, meanwhile, advanced from the door towards the middle of the room,

-adopting the very slow pace of an invisible companion. A few feet away

-it stopped and began to smile and blink its eyes. There was something

-deliberately coaxing in its attitude as it stood there undecided on the

-carpet, clearly wishing to effect some sort of introduction between the

-Intruder and its canine friend and ally. It assumed its most winning

-manners, purring, smiling, looking persuasively from one to the other,

-and making quick tentative steps first in one direction and then in the

-other. There had always existed such perfect understanding between them

-in everything. Surely Flame would appreciate Smoke's intentions now, and

-acquiesce.

-

-But the old collie made no advances. He bared his teeth, lifting his

-lips till the gums showed, and stood stockstill with fixed eyes and

-heaving sides. The doctor moved a little farther back, watching intently

-the smallest movement, and it was just then he divined suddenly from the

-cat's behaviour and attitude that it was not only a single companion it

-had ushered into the room, but _several_. It kept crossing over from one

-to the other, looking up at each in turn. It sought to win over the dog

-to friendliness with them all. The original Intruder had come back with

-reinforcements. And at the same time he further realized that the

-Intruder was something more than a blindly acting force, impersonal

-though destructive. It was a Personality, and moreover a great

-personality. And it was accompanied for the purposes of assistance by a

-host of other personalities, minor in degree, but similar in kind.

-

-He braced himself in the corner against the mantelpiece and waited, his

-whole being roused to defence, for he was now fully aware that the

-attack had spread to include himself as well as the animals, and he must

-be on the alert. He strained his eyes through the foggy atmosphere,

-trying in vain to see what the cat and dog saw; but the candlelight

-threw an uncertain and flickering light across the room and his eyes

-discerned nothing. On the floor Smoke moved softly in front of him like

-a black shadow, his eyes gleaming as he turned his head, still trying

-with many insinuating gestures and much purring to bring about the

-introductions he desired.

-

-But it was all in vain. Flame stood riveted to one spot, motionless as a

-figure carved in stone.

-

-Some minutes passed, during which only the cat moved, and there came a

-sharp change. Flame began to back towards the wall. He moved his head

-from side to side as he went, sometimes turning to snap at something

-almost behind him. _They_ were advancing upon him, trying to surround

-him. His distress became very marked from now onwards, and it seemed to

-the doctor that his anger merged into genuine terror and became

-overwhelmed by it. The savage growl sounded perilously like a whine, and

-more than once he tried to dive past his master's legs, as though

-hunting for a way of escape. He was trying to avoid something that

-everywhere blocked the way.

-

-This terror of the indomitable fighter impressed the doctor enormously;

-yet also painfully; stirring his impatience; for he had never before

-seen the dog show signs of giving in, and it distressed him to witness

-it. He knew, however, that he was not giving in easily, and understood

-that it was really impossible for him to gauge the animal's sensations

-properly at all. What Flame felt, and saw, must be terrible indeed to

-turn him all at once into a coward. He faced something that made him

-afraid of more than his life merely. The doctor spoke a few quick words

-of encouragement to him, and stroked the bristling hair. But without

-much success. The collie seemed already beyond the reach of comfort such

-as that, and the collapse of the old dog followed indeed very speedily

-after this.

-

-And Smoke, meanwhile, remained behind, watching the advance, but not

-joining in it; sitting, pleased and expectant, considering that all was

-going well and as it wished. It was kneading on the carpet with its

-front paws--slowly, laboriously, as though its feet were dipped in

-treacle. The sound its claws made as they caught in the threads was

-distinctly audible. It was still smiling, blinking, purring.

-

-Suddenly the collie uttered a poignant short bark and leaped heavily to

-one side. His bared teeth traced a line of whiteness through the gloom.

-The next instant he dashed past his master's legs, almost upsetting his

-balance, and shot out into the room, where he went blundering wildly

-against walls and furniture. But that bark was significant; the doctor

-had heard it before and knew what it meant: for it was the cry of the

-fighter against odds and it meant that the old beast had found his

-courage again. Possibly it was only the courage of despair, but at any

-rate the fighting would be terrific. And Dr. Silence understood, too,

-that he dared not interfere. Flame must fight his own enemies in his own

-way.

-

-But the cat, too, had heard that dreadful bark; and it, too, had

-understood. This was more than it had bargained for. Across the dim

-shadows of that haunted room there must have passed some secret signal

-of distress between the animals. Smoke stood up and looked swiftly about

-him. He uttered a piteous meow and trotted smartly away into the greater

-darkness by the windows. What his object was only those endowed with the

-spirit-like intelligence of cats might know. But, at any rate, he had at

-last ranged himself on the side of his friend. And the little beast

-meant business.

-

-At the same moment the collie managed to gain the door. The doctor saw

-him rush through into the hall like a flash of yellow light. He shot

-across the oilcloth, and tore up the stairs, but in another second he

-appeared again, flying down the steps and landing at the bottom in a

-tumbling heap, whining, cringing, terrified. The doctor saw him slink

-back into the room again and crawl round by the wall towards the cat.

-Was, then, even the staircase occupied? Did _They_ stand also in the

-hall? Was the whole house crowded from floor to ceiling?

-

-The thought came to add to the keen distress he felt at the sight of the

-collie's discomfiture. And, indeed, his own personal distress had

-increased in a marked degree during the past minutes, and continued to

-increase steadily to the climax. He recognized that the drain on his own

-vitality grew steadily, and that the attack was now directed against

-himself even more than against the defeated dog, and the too much

-deceived cat.

-

-It all seemed so rapid and uncalculated after that--the events that took

-place in this little modern room at the top of Putney Hill between

-midnight and sunrise--that Dr. Silence was hardly able to follow and

-remember it all. It came about with such uncanny swiftness and terror;

-the light was so uncertain; the movements of the black cat so difficult

-to follow on the dark carpet, and the doctor himself so weary and taken

-by surprise--that he found it almost impossible to observe accurately,

-or to recall afterwards precisely what it was he had seen or in what

-order the incidents had taken place. He never could understand what

-defect of vision on his part made it seem as though the cat had

-duplicated itself at first, and then increased indefinitely, so that

-there were at least a dozen of them darting silently about the floor,

-leaping softly on to chairs and tables, passing like shadows from the

-open door to the end of the room, all black as sin, with brilliant green

-eyes flashing fire in all directions. It was like the reflections from a

-score of mirrors placed round the walls at different angles. Nor could

-he make out at the time why the size of the room seemed to have altered,

-grown much larger, and why it extended away behind him where ordinarily

-the wall should have been. The snarling of the enraged and terrified

-collie sounded sometimes so far away; the ceiling seemed to have raised

-itself so much higher than before, and much of the furniture had changed

-in appearance and shifted marvellously.

-

-It was all so confused and confusing, as though the little room he knew

-had become merged and transformed into the dimensions of quite another

-chamber, that came to him, with its host of cats and its strange

-distances, in a sort of vision.

-

-But these changes came about a little later, and at a time when his

-attention was so concentrated upon the proceedings of Smoke and the

-collie, that he only observed them, as it were, subconsciously. And the

-excitement, the flickering candlelight, the distress he felt for the

-collie, and the distorting atmosphere of fog were the poorest possible

-allies to careful observation.

-

-At first he was only aware that the dog was repeating his short

-dangerous bark from time to time, snapping viciously at the empty air, a

-foot or so from the ground. Once, indeed, he sprang upwards and

-forwards, working furiously with teeth and paws, and with a noise like

-wolves fighting, but only to dash back the next minute against the wall

-behind him. Then, after lying still for a bit, he rose to a crouching

-position as though to spring again, snarling horribly and making short

-half-circles with lowered head. And Smoke all the while meowed piteously

-by the window as though trying to draw the attack upon himself.

-

-Then it was that the rush of the whole dreadful business seemed to turn

-aside from the dog and direct itself upon his own person. The collie had

-made another spring and fallen back with a crash into the corner, where

-he made noise enough in his savage rage to waken the dead before he fell

-to whining and then finally lay still. And directly afterwards the

-doctor's own distress became intolerably acute. He had made a half

-movement forward to come to the rescue when a veil that was denser than

-mere fog seemed to drop down over the scene, draping room, walls,

-animals and fire in a mist of darkness and folding also about his own

-mind. Other forms moved silently across the field of vision, forms that

-he recognized from previous experiments, and welcomed not. Unholy

-thoughts began to crowd into his brain, sinister suggestions of evil

-presented themselves seductively. Ice seemed to settle about his heart,

-and his mind trembled. He began to lose memory--memory of his identity,

-of where he was, of what he ought to do. The very foundations of his

-strength were shaken. His will seemed paralysed.

-

-And it was then that the room filled with this horde of cats, all dark

-as the night, all silent, all with lamping eyes of green fire. The

-dimensions of the place altered and shifted. He was in a much larger

-space. The whining of the dog sounded far away, and all about him the

-cats flew busily to and fro, silently playing their tearing, rushing

-game of evil, weaving the pattern of their dark purpose upon the floor.

-He strove hard to collect himself and remember the words of power he had

-made use of before in similar dread positions where his dangerous

-practice had sometimes led; but he could recall nothing consecutively; a

-mist lay over his mind and memory; he felt dazed and his forces

-scattered. The deeps within were too troubled for healing power to come

-out of them.

-

-It was glamour, of course, he realized afterwards, the strong glamour

-thrown upon his imagination by some powerful personality behind the

-veil; but at the time he was not sufficiently aware of this and, as with

-all true glamour, was unable to grasp where the true ended and the false

-began. He was caught momentarily in the same vortex that had sought to

-lure the cat to destruction through its delight, and threatened utterly

-to overwhelm the dog through its terror.

-

-There came a sound in the chimney behind him like wind booming and

-tearing its way down. The windows rattled. The candle flickered and went

-out. The glacial atmosphere closed round him with the cold of death, and

-a great rushing sound swept by overhead as though the ceiling had lifted

-to a great height. He heard the door shut. Far away it sounded. He felt

-lost, shelterless in the depths of his soul. Yet still he held out and

-resisted while the climax of the fight came nearer and nearer.... He had

-stepped into the stream of forces awakened by Pender and he knew that he

-must withstand them to the end or come to a conclusion that it was not

-good for a man to come to. Something from the region of utter cold was

-upon him.

-

-And then quite suddenly, through the confused mists about him, there

-slowly rose up the Personality that had been all the time directing the

-battle. Some force entered his being that shook him as the tempest

-shakes a leaf, and close against his eyes--clean level with his face--he

-found himself staring into the wreck of a vast dark Countenance, a

-countenance that was terrible even in its ruin.

-

-For ruined it was, and terrible it was, and the mark of spiritual evil

-was branded everywhere upon its broken features. Eyes, face and hair

-rose level with his own, and for a space of time he never could properly

-measure, or determine, these two, a man and a woman, looked straight

-into each other's visages and down into each other's hearts.

-

-And John Silence, the soul with the good, unselfish motive, held his own

-against the dark discarnate woman whose motive was pure evil, and whose

-soul was on the side of the Dark Powers.

-

-It was the climax that touched the depth of power within him and began

-to restore him slowly to his own. He was conscious, of course, of

-effort, and yet it seemed no superhuman one, for he had recognized the

-character of his opponent's power, and he called upon the good within

-him to meet and overcome it. The inner forces stirred and trembled in

-response to his call. They did not at first come readily as was their

-habit, for under the spell of glamour they had already been

-diabolically lulled into inactivity, but come they eventually did,

-rising out of the inner spiritual nature he had learned with so much

-time and pain to awaken to life. And power and confidence came with

-them. He began to breathe deeply and regularly, and at the same time to

-absorb into himself the forces opposed to him, and to _turn them to his

-account_. By ceasing to resist, and allowing the deadly stream to pour

-into him unopposed, he used the very power supplied by his adversary and

-thus enormously increased his own.

-

-For this spiritual alchemy he had learned. He understood that force

-ultimately is everywhere one and the same; it is the motive behind that

-makes it good or evil; and his motive was entirely unselfish. He

-knew--provided he was not first robbed of self-control--how vicariously

-to absorb these evil radiations into himself and change them magically

-into his own good purposes. And, since his motive was pure and his soul

-fearless, they could not work him harm.

-

-Thus he stood in the main stream of evil unwittingly attracted by

-Pender, deflecting its course upon himself; and after passing through

-the purifying filter of his own unselfishness these energies could only

-add to his store of experience, of knowledge, and therefore of power.

-And, as his self-control returned to him, he gradually accomplished this

-purpose, even though trembling while he did so.

-

-Yet the struggle was severe, and in spite of the freezing chill of the

-air, the perspiration poured down his face. Then, by slow degrees, the

-dark and dreadful countenance faded, the glamour passed from his soul,

-the normal proportions returned to walls and ceiling, the forms melted

-back into the fog, and the whirl of rushing shadow-cats disappeared

-whence they came.

-

-And with the return of the consciousness of his own identity John

-Silence was restored to the full control of his own will-power. In a

-deep, modulated voice he began to utter certain rhythmical sounds that

-slowly rolled through the air like a rising sea, filling the room with

-powerful vibratory activities that whelmed all irregularities of lesser

-vibrations in its own swelling tone. He made certain sigils, gestures

-and movements at the same time. For several minutes he continued to

-utter these words, until at length the growing volume dominated the

-whole room and mastered the manifestation of all that opposed it. For

-just as he understood the spiritual alchemy that can transmute evil

-forces by raising them into higher channels, so he knew from long study

-the occult use of sound, and its direct effect upon the plastic region

-wherein the powers of spiritual evil work their fell purposes. Harmony

-was restored first of all to his own soul, and thence to the room and

-all its occupants.

-

-And, after himself, the first to recognize it was the old dog lying in

-his corner. Flame began suddenly uttering sounds of pleasure, that

-"something" between a growl and a grunt that dogs make upon being

-restored to their master's confidence. Dr. Silence heard the thumping of

-the collie's tail against the ground. And the grunt and the thumping

-touched the depth of affection in the man's heart, and gave him some

-inkling of what agonies the dumb creature had suffered.

-

-Next, from the shadows by the window, a somewhat shrill purring

-announced the restoration of the cat to its normal state. Smoke was

-advancing across the carpet. He seemed very pleased with himself, and

-smiled with an expression of supreme innocence. He was no shadow-cat,

-but real and full of his usual and perfect self-possession. He marched

-along, picking his way delicately, but with a stately dignity that

-suggested his ancestry with the majesty of Egypt. His eyes no longer

-glared; they shone steadily before him; they radiated, not excitement,

-but knowledge. Clearly he was anxious to make amends for the mischief to

-which he had unwittingly lent himself owing to his subtle and electric

-constitution.

-

-Still uttering his sharp high purrings he marched up to his master and

-rubbed vigorously against his legs. Then he stood on his hind feet and

-pawed his knees and stared beseechingly up into his face. He turned his

-head towards the corner where the collie still lay, thumping his tail

-feebly and pathetically.

-

-John Silence understood. He bent down and stroked the creature's living

-fur, noting the line of bright blue sparks that followed the motion of

-his hand down its back. And then they advanced together towards the

-corner where the dog was.

-

-Smoke went first and put his nose gently against his friend's muzzle,

-purring while he rubbed, and uttering little soft sounds of affection in

-his throat. The doctor lit the candle and brought it over. He saw the

-collie lying on its side against the wall; it was utterly exhausted, and

-foam still hung about its jaws. Its tail and eyes responded to the

-sound of its name, but it was evidently very weak and overcome. Smoke

-continued to rub against its cheek and nose and eyes, sometimes even

-standing on its body and kneading into the thick yellow hair. Flame

-replied from time to time by little licks of the tongue, most of them

-curiously misdirected.

-

-But Dr. Silence felt intuitively that something disastrous had happened,

-and his heart was wrung. He stroked the dear body, feeling it over for

-bruises or broken bones, but finding none. He fed it with what remained

-of the sandwiches and milk, but the creature clumsily upset the saucer

-and lost the sandwiches between its paws, so that the doctor had to feed

-it with his own hand. And all the while Smoke meowed piteously.

-

-Then John Silence began to understand. He went across to the farther

-side of the room and called aloud to it.

-

-"Flame, old man! come!"

-

-At any other time the dog would have been upon him in an instant,

-barking and leaping to the shoulder. And even now he got up, though

-heavily and awkwardly, to his feet. He started to run, wagging his tail

-more briskly. He collided first with a chair, and then ran straight into

-a table. Smoke trotted close at his side, trying his very best to guide

-him. But it was useless. Dr. Silence had to lift him up into his own

-arms and carry him like a baby. For he was blind.

-

-

-III

-

-It was a week later when John Silence called to see the author in his

-new house, and found him well on the way to recovery and already busy

-again with his writing. The haunted look had left his eyes, and he

-seemed cheerful and confident.

-

-"Humour restored?" laughed the doctor, as soon as they were comfortably

-settled in the room overlooking the Park.

-

-"I've had no trouble since I left that dreadful place," returned Pender

-gratefully; "and thanks to you--"

-

-The doctor stopped him with a gesture.

-

-"Never mind that," he said, "we'll discuss your new plans afterwards,

-and my scheme for relieving you of the house and helping you settle

-elsewhere. Of course it must be pulled down, for it's not fit for any

-sensitive person to live in, and any other tenant might be afflicted in

-the same way you were. Although, personally, I think the evil has

-exhausted itself by now."

-

-He told the astonished author something of his experiences in it with

-the animals.

-

-"I don't pretend to understand," Pender said, when the account was

-finished, "but I and my wife are intensely relieved to be free of it

-all. Only I must say I should like to know something of the former

-history of the house. When we took it six months ago I heard no word

-against it."

-

-Dr. Silence drew a typewritten paper from his pocket.

-

-"I can satisfy your curiosity to some extent," he said, running his eye

-over the sheets, and then replacing them in his coat; "for by my

-secretary's investigations I have been able to check certain information

-obtained in the hypnotic trance by a 'sensitive' who helps me in such

-cases. The former occupant who haunted you appears to have been a woman

-of singularly atrocious life and character who finally suffered death by

-hanging, after a series of crimes that appalled the whole of England and

-only came to light by the merest chance. She came to her end in the year

-1798, for it was not this particular house she lived in, but a much

-larger one that then stood upon the site it now occupies, and was then,

-of course, not in London, but in the country. She was a person of

-intellect, possessed of a powerful, trained will, and of consummate

-audacity, and I am convinced availed herself of the resources of the

-lower magic to attain her ends. This goes far to explain the virulence

-of the attack upon yourself, and why she is still able to carry on after

-death the evil practices that formed her main purpose during life."

-

-"You think that after death a soul can still consciously direct--"

-gasped the author.

-

-"I think, as I told you before, that the forces of a powerful

-personality may still persist after death in the line of their original

-momentum," replied the doctor; "and that strong thoughts and purposes

-can still react upon suitably prepared brains long after their

-originators have passed away.

-

-"If you knew anything of magic," he pursued, "you would know that

-thought is dynamic, and that it may call into existence forms and

-pictures that may well exist for hundreds of years. For, not far

-removed from the region of our human life, is another region where

-floats the waste and drift of all the centuries, the limbo of the shells

-of the dead; a densely populated region crammed with horror and

-abomination of all descriptions, and sometimes galvanized into active

-life again by the will of a trained manipulator, a mind versed in the

-practices of lower magic. That this woman understood its vile commerce,

-I am persuaded, and the forces she set going during her life have simply

-been accumulating ever since, and would have continued to do so had they

-not been drawn down upon yourself, and afterwards discharged and

-satisfied through me.

-

-"Anything might have brought down the attack, for, besides drugs, there

-are certain violent emotions, certain moods of the soul, certain

-spiritual fevers, if I may so call them, which directly open the inner

-being to a cognizance of this astral region I have mentioned. In your

-case it happened to be a peculiarly potent drug that did it."

-

-"But now, tell me," he added, after a pause, handing to the perplexed

-author a pencil-drawing he had made of the dark countenance that had

-appeared to him during the night on Putney Hill--"tell me if you

-recognize this face?"

-

-Pender looked at the drawing closely, greatly astonished. He shuddered

-as he looked.

-

-"Undoubtedly," he said, "it is the face I kept trying to draw--dark,

-with the great mouth and jaw, and the drooping eye. That is the woman."

-

-Dr. Silence then produced from his pocket-book an old-fashioned woodcut

-of the same person which his secretary had unearthed from the records of

-the Newgate Calendar. The woodcut and the pencil drawing were two

-different aspects of the same dreadful visage. The men compared them for

-some moments in silence.

-

-"It makes me thank God for the limitations of our senses," said Pender

-quietly, with a sigh; "continuous clairvoyance must be a sore

-affliction."

-

-"It is indeed," returned John Silence significantly, "and if all the

-people nowadays who claim to be clairvoyant were really so, the

-statistics of suicide and lunacy would be considerably higher than they

-are. It is little wonder," he added, "that your sense of humour was

-clouded, with the mind-forces of that dead monster trying to use your

-brain for their dissemination. You have had an interesting adventure,

-Mr. Felix Pender, and, let me add, a fortunate escape."

-

-The author was about to renew his thanks when there came a sound of

-scratching at the door, and the doctor sprang up quickly.

-

-"It's time for me to go. I left my dog on the step, but I suppose--"

-

-Before he had time to open the door, it had yielded to the pressure

-behind it and flew wide open to admit a great yellow-haired collie. The

-dog, wagging his tail and contorting his whole body with delight, tore

-across the floor and tried to leap up upon his owner's breast. And there

-was laughter and happiness in the old eyes; for they were clear again as

-the day.

-

-                                                     ALGERNON BLACKWOOD.

-

-

-

-

-THE AFFLICTIONS OF AN ENGLISH CAT

-

-

-When the report of your first meeting arrived in London, O! French

-Animals, it caused the hearts of the friends of Animal Reform to beat

-faster. In my own humble experience, I have so many proofs of the

-superiority of Beasts over Man that in my character of an English Cat I

-see the occasion, long awaited, of publishing the story of my life, in

-order to show how my poor soul has been tortured by the hypocritical

-laws of England. On two occasions, already, some Mice, whom I have made

-a vow to respect since the bill passed by your august parliament, have

-taken me to Colburn's, where, observing old ladies, spinsters of

-uncertain years, and even young married women, correcting proofs, I have

-asked myself why, having claws, I should not make use of them in a

-similar manner. One never knows what women think, especially the women

-who write, while a Cat, victim of English perfidy, is interested to say

-more than she thinks, and her profuseness may serve to compensate for

-what these ladies do not say. I am ambitious to be the Mrs. Inchbald of

-Cats and I beg you to have consideration for my noble efforts, O! French

-Cats, among whom has risen the noblest house of our race, that of Puss

-in Boots, eternal type of Advertiser, whom so many men have imitated but

-to whom no one has yet erected a monument.

-

-I was born at the home of a parson in Catshire, near the little town of

-Miaulbury. My mother's fecundity condemned nearly all her infants to a

-cruel fate, because, as you know, the cause of the maternal intemperance

-of English cats, who threaten to populate the whole world, has not yet

-been decided. Toms and females each insist it is due to their own

-amiability and respective virtues. But impertinent observers have

-remarked that Cats in England are required to be so boringly proper that

-this is their only distraction. Others pretend that herein may lie

-concealed great questions of commerce and politics, having to do with

-the English rule of India, but these matters are not for my paws to

-write of and I leave them to the _Edinburgh-Review_. I was not drowned

-with the others on account of the whiteness of my robe. Also I was named

-Beauty. Alas! the parson, who had a wife and eleven daughters, was too

-poor to keep me. An elderly female noticed that I had an affection for

-the parson's Bible; I slept on it all the time, not because I was

-religious, but because it was the only clean spot I could find in the

-house. She believed, perhaps, that I belonged to the sect of sacred

-animals which had already furnished the she-ass of Balaam, and took me

-away with her. I was only two months old at this time. This old woman,

-who gave evenings for which she sent out cards inscribed _Tea and

-Bible_, tried to communicate to me the fatal science of the daughters of

-Eve. Her method, which consisted in delivering long lectures on personal

-dignity and on the obligations due the world, was a very successful one.

-In order to avoid these lectures one submitted to martyrdom.

-

-One morning I, a poor little daughter of Nature, attracted by a bowl of

-cream, covered by a muffin, knocked the muffin off with my paw, and

-lapped the cream. Then in joy, and perhaps also on account of the

-weakness of my young organs, I delivered myself on the waxed floor to

-the imperious need which young Cats feel. Perceiving the proofs of what

-she called my intemperance and my faults of education, the old woman

-seized me and whipped me vigorously with a birchrod, protesting that she

-would make me a lady or she would abandon me.

-

-"Permit me to give you a lesson in gentility," she said. "Understand,

-Miss Beauty, that English Cats veil natural acts, which are opposed to

-the laws of English respectability, in the most profound mystery, and

-banish all that is improper, applying to the creature, as you have heard

-the Reverend Doctor Simpson say, the laws made by God for the creation.

-Have you ever seen the Earth behave itself indecently? Learn to suffer a

-thousand deaths rather than reveal your desires; in this suppression

-consists the virtue of the saints. The greatest privilege of Cats is to

-depart with the grace that characterizes your actions, and let no one

-know where you are going to make your little toilets. Thus you expose

-yourself only when you are beautiful. Deceived by appearances, everybody

-will take you for an angel. In the future when such a desire seizes you,

-look out of the window, give the impression that you desire to go for a

-walk, then run to a copse or to the gutter."

-

-As a simple Cat of good sense, I found much hypocrisy in this doctrine,

-but I was so young!

-

-"And when I am in the gutter?" thought I, looking at the old woman.

-

-"Once alone, and sure of not being seen by anybody, well, Beauty, you

-can sacrifice respectability with much more charm because you have been

-discreet in public. It is in the observance of this very precept that

-the perfection of the moral English shines the brightest: they occupy

-themselves exclusively with appearances, this world being, alas, only

-illusion and deception."

-

-I admit that these disguises were revolting to all my animal good sense,

-but on account of the whipping, it seemed preferable to understand that

-exterior propriety was all that was demanded of an English Cat. From

-this moment I accustomed myself to conceal the titbits that I loved

-under the bed. Nobody ever saw me eat, or drink, or make my toilet. I

-was regarded as the pearl of Cats.

-

-Now I had occasion to observe those stupid men who are called savants.

-Among the doctors and others who were friends of my mistress, there was

-this Simpson, a fool, a son of a rich landowner, who was waiting for a

-bequest, and who, to deserve it, explained all animal actions by

-religious theories. He saw me one evening lapping milk from a saucer and

-complimented the old woman on the manner in which I had been bred,

-seeing me lick first the edges of the saucer and gradually diminish the

-circle of fluid.

-

-"See," he said, "how in saintly company all becomes perfection: Beauty

-understands eternity, because she describes the circle which is its

-emblem in lapping her milk."

-

-Conscience obliges me to state that the aversion of Cats to wetting

-their fur was the only reason for my fashion of drinking, but we will

-always be badly understood by the savants who are much more preoccupied

-in showing their own wit, than in discovering ours.

-

-When the ladies or the gentlemen lifted me to pass their hands over my

-snowy back to make the sparks fly from my hair, the old woman remarked

-with pride, "You can hold her without having any fear for your dress;

-she is admirably well-bred!" Everybody said I was an angel; I was loaded

-with delicacies, but I assure you that I was profoundly bored. I was

-well aware of the fact that a young female Cat of the neighbourhood had

-run away with a Tom. This word, Tom, caused my soul a suffering which

-nothing could alleviate, not even the compliments I received, or rather

-that my mistress lavished on herself.

-

-"Beauty is entirely moral; she is a little angel," she said. "Although

-she is very beautiful she has the air of not knowing it. She never looks

-at anybody, which is the height of a fine aristocratic education. When

-she does look at anybody it is with that perfect indifference which we

-demand of our young girls, but which we obtain only with great

-difficulty. She never intrudes herself unless you call her; she never

-jumps on you with familiarity; nobody ever sees her eat, and certainly

-that monster of a Lord Byron would have adored her. Like a tried and

-true Englishwoman she loves tea, sits, gravely calm, while the Bible is

-being explained, and thinks badly of nobody, a fact which permits one to

-speak freely before her. She is simple, without affectation, and has no

-desire for jewels. Give her a ring and she will not keep it. Finally,

-she does not imitate the vulgarity of the hunter. She loves her home and

-remains there so perfectly tranquil that at times you would believe that

-she was a mechanical Cat made at Birmingham or Manchester, which is the

-_ne plus ultra_ of the finest education."

-

-What these men and old women call education is the custom of

-dissimulating natural manners, and when they have completely depraved us

-they say that we are well-bred. One evening my mistress begged one of

-the young ladies to sing. When this girl went to the piano and began to

-sing I recognized at once an Irish melody that I had heard in my youth,

-and I remembered that I also was a musician. So I merged my voice with

-hers, but I received some raps on the head while she received

-compliments. I was revolted by this sovereign injustice and ran away to

-the garret. Sacred love of country! What a delicious night! I at last

-knew what the roof was. I heard Toms sing hymns to their mates, and

-these adorable elegies made me feel ashamed of the hypocrisies my

-mistress had forced upon me. Soon some of the Cats observed me and

-appeared to take offence at my presence, when a Tom with shaggy hair, a

-magnificent beard, and a fine figure, came to look at me and said to the

-company, "It's only a child!" At these condescending words, I bounded

-about on the tiles, moving with that agility which distinguishes us; I

-fell on my paws in that flexible fashion which no other animal knows how

-to imitate in order to show that I was no child. But these calineries

-were a pure waste of time. "When will some one serenade me?" I asked

-myself. The aspect of these haughty Toms, their melodies, that the human

-voice could never hope to rival, had moved me profoundly, and were the

-cause of my inventing little lyrics that I sang on the stairs. But an

-event of tremendous importance was about to occur which tore me

-violently from this innocent life. I went to London with a niece of my

-mistress, a rich heiress who adored me, who kissed me, caressed me with

-a kind of madness, and who pleased me so much that I became attached to

-her, against all the habits of our race. We were never separated and I

-was able to observe the great world of London during the season. It was

-there that I studied the perversity of English manners, which have power

-even over the beasts, that I became acquainted with that cant which

-Byron cursed and of which I am the victim as well as he, but without

-having enjoyed my hours of leisure.

-

-Arabella, my mistress, was a young person like many others in England;

-she was not sure whom she wanted for a husband. The absolute liberty

-that is permitted girls in choosing a husband drives them nearly crazy,

-especially when they recall that English custom does not sanction

-intimate conversation after marriage. I was far from dreaming that the

-London Cats had adopted this severity, that the English laws would be

-cruelly applied to me, and that I would be a victim of the court at the

-terrible Doctors' Commons. Arabella was charming to all the men she met,

-and every one of them believed that he was going to marry this beautiful

-girl, but when an affair threatened to terminate in wedlock, she would

-find some pretext for a break, conduct which did not seem very

-respectable to me. "Marry a bow-legged man! Never!" she said of one. "As

-to that little fellow he is snub-nosed." Men were all so much alike to

-me that I could not understand this uncertainty founded on purely

-physical differences.

-

-Finally one day an old English Peer, seeing me, said to her: "You have a

-beautiful Cat. She resembles you. She is white, she is young, she should

-have a husband. Let me bring her a magnificent Angora that I have at

-home."

-

-Three days later the Peer brought in the handsomest Tom of the Peerage.

-Puff, with a black coat, had the most magnificent eyes, green and

-yellow, but cold and proud. The long silky hair of his tail, remarkable

-for its yellow rings, swept the carpet. Perhaps he came from the

-imperial house of Austria, because, as you see, he wore the colours. His

-manners were those of a Cat who had seen the court and the great world.

-His severity, in the matter of carrying himself, was so great that he

-would not scratch his head were anybody present. Puff had travelled on

-the continent. To sum up, he was so remarkably handsome that he had

-been, it was said, caressed by the Queen of England. Simple and naïve as

-I was I leaped at his neck to engage him in play, but he refused under

-the pretext that we were being watched. I then perceived that this

-English Cat Peer owed this forced and fictitious gravity that in England

-is called respectability to age and to intemperance at table. His

-weight, that men admired, interfered with his movements. Such was the

-true reason for his not responding to my pleasant advances. Calm and

-cold he sat on his unnamable, agitating his beard, looking at me and

-at times closing his eyes. In the society world of English Cats, Puff

-was the richest kind of catch for a Cat born at a parson's. He had two

-valets in his service; he ate from Chinese porcelain, and he drank only

-black tea. He drove in a carriage in Hyde Park and had been to

-parliament.

-

-My mistress kept him. Unknown to me, all the feline population of London

-learned that Miss Beauty from Catshire had married Puff, marked with the

-colours of Austria. During the night I heard a concert in the street.

-Accompanied by my lord, who, according to his taste, walked slowly, I

-descended. We found the Cats of the Peerage, who had come to

-congratulate me and to ask me to join their Ratophile Society. They

-explained that nothing was more common than running after Rats and Mice.

-The words, shocking, vulgar, were constantly on their lips. To conclude,

-they had formed, for the glory of the country, a Temperance Society. A

-few nights later my lord and I went on the roof of Almack's to hear a

-grey Cat speak on the subject. In his exhortation, which was constantly

-supported by cries of "Hear! Hear!" he proved that Saint Paul in writing

-about charity had the Cats of England in mind. It was then the special

-duty of the English, who could go from one end of the world to the other

-on their ships without fear of the sea, to spread the principles of the

-_morale ratophile_. As a matter of fact English Cats were already

-preaching the doctrines of the Society, based on the hygienic

-discoveries of science. When Rats and Mice were dissected little

-distinction could be found between them and Cats; the oppression of one

-race by the other then was opposed to the Laws of Beasts, which are

-stronger even than the Laws of Men. "They are our brothers," he

-continued. And he painted such a vivid picture of the suffering of a Rat

-in the jaws of a Cat that I burst into tears.

-

-Observing that I was deceived by this speech, Lord Puff confided to me

-that England expected to do an immense trade in Rats and Mice; that if

-the Cats would eat no more, Rats would be England's best product; that

-there was always a practical reason concealed behind English morality;

-and that the alliance between morality and trade was the only alliance

-on which England really counted.

-

-Puff appeared to me to be too good a politician ever to make a

-satisfactory husband.

-

-A country Cat made the observation that on the continent, especially at

-Paris, near the fortifications, Tom Cats were sacrificed daily by the

-Catholics. Somebody interrupted with the cry of "Question!" Added to

-these cruel executions was the frightful slander of passing the brave

-animals off for Rabbits, a lie and a barbarity which he attributed to an

-ignorance of the true Anglican religion which did not permit lying and

-cheating except in the government, foreign affairs, and the cabinet.

-

-He was treated as a radical and a dreamer. "We are here in the interests

-of the Cats of England, not in those of continental Cats!" cried a fiery

-Tory Tom. Puff went to sleep. Just as the assembly was breaking up a

-young Cat from the French embassy, whose accent proclaimed his

-nationality, addressed me these delicious words:

-

-"Dear Beauty, it will be an eternity before Nature forms another Cat as

-perfect as you. The cashmere of Persia and the Indies is like camel's

-hair when it is compared to your fine and brilliant silk. You exhale a

-perfume which is the concentrated essence of the felicity of the angels,

-an odour I have detected in the salon of the Prince de Talleyrand, which

-I left to come to this stupid meeting. The fire of your eyes illuminates

-the night! Your ears would be entirely perfect if they would listen to

-my supplications. There is not a rose in England as rose as the rose

-flesh which borders your little rose mouth. A fisherman would search in

-vain in the depths of Ormus for pearls of the quality of your teeth.

-Your dear face, fine and gracious, is the loveliest that England has

-produced. Near to your celestial robe the snow of the Alps would seem to

-be red. Ah! those coats which are only to be seen in your fogs! Softly

-and gracefully your paws bear your body which is the culmination of the

-miracles of creation, but your tail, the subtle interpreter of the

-beating of your heart, surpasses it. Yes! never was there such an

-exquisite curve, more correct roundness. No Cat ever moved more

-delicately. Come away from this old fool of a Puff, who sleeps like an

-English Peer in parliament, who besides is a scoundrel who has sold

-himself to the Whigs, and who, owing to a too long sojourn at Bengal,

-has lost everything that can please a Cat."

-

-Then, without having the air of looking at him, I took in the appearance

-of this charming French Tom. He was a careless little rogue and not in

-any respect like an English Cat. His cavalier manner as well as his way

-of shaking his ear stamped him as a gay bachelor without a care. I avow

-that I was weary of the solemnity of English Cats, and of their purely

-practical propriety. Their respectability, especially, seemed ridiculous

-to me. The excessive naturalness of this badly groomed Cat surprised me

-in its violent contrast to all that I had seen in London. Besides my

-life was so strictly regulated, I knew so well what I had to count on

-for the rest of my days, that I welcomed the promise of the unexpected

-in the physiognomy of this French Cat. My whole life appeared insipid to

-me. I comprehended that I could live on the roofs with an amazing

-creature who came from that country where the inhabitants consoled

-themselves for the victories of the greatest English general by these

-words:

-

-                   Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre,

-                  _Mironton_, TON, TON, MIRONTAINE!

-

-Nevertheless I awakened my lord, told him how late it was, and suggested

-that we ought to go in. I gave no sign of having listened to this

-declaration, and my apparent insensibility petrified Brisquet. He

-remained behind, more surprised than ever because he considered himself

-handsome. I learned later that it was an easy matter for him to seduce

-most Cats. I examined him through a corner of my eye: he ran away with

-little bounds, returned, leaping the width of the street, then jumped

-back again, like a French Cat in despair. A true Englishman would have

-been decent enough not to let me see how he felt.

-

-Some days later my lord and I were stopping in the magnificent house of

-the old Peer; then I went in the carriage for a drive in Hyde Park. We

-ate only chicken bones, fishbones, cream, milk, and chocolate. However

-heating this diet might prove to others my so-called husband remained

-sober. He was respectable even in his treatment of me. Generally he

-slept from seven in the evening at the whist table on the knees of his

-Grace. On this account my soul received no satisfaction and I pined

-away. This condition was aggravated by a little affection of the

-intestines occasioned by pure herring oil (the Port Wine of English

-Cats), which Puff used, and which made me very ill. My mistress sent for

-a physician who had graduated at Edinburgh after having studied a long

-time in Paris. Having diagnosed my malady he promised my mistress that

-he would cure me the next day. He returned, as a matter of fact, and

-took an instrument of French manufacture out of his pocket. I felt a

-kind of fright on perceiving a barrel of white metal terminating in a

-slender tube. At the sight of this mechanism, which the doctor exhibited

-with satisfaction, Their Graces blushed, became irritable, and muttered

-several fine sentiments about the dignity of the English: for instance

-that the Catholics of old England were more distinguished for their

-opinions of this infamous instrument than for their opinions of the

-Bible. The Duke added that at Paris the French unblushingly made an

-exhibition of it in their national theatre in a comedy by Molière, but

-that in London a watchman would not dare pronounce its name.

-

-"Give her some calomel."

-

-"But Your Grace would kill her!" cried the doctor.

-

-"The French can do as they like," replied His Grace. "I do not know, no

-more do you, what would happen if this degrading instrument were

-employed, but what I do know is that a true English physician should

-cure his patients only with the old English remedies."

-

-This physician, who was beginning to make a big reputation, lost all his

-practice in the great world. Another doctor was called in, who asked me

-some improper questions about Puff, and who informed me that the real

-device of the English was: _Dieu et mon droit congugal!_

-

-One night I heard the voice of the French Cat in the street. Nobody

-could see us; I climbed up the chimney and, appearing on the housetop,

-cried, "In the rain-trough!" This response gave him wings; he was at my

-side in the twinkling of an eye. Would you believe that this French Cat

-had the audacity to take advantage of my exclamation. He cried, "Come to

-my arms," daring to become familiar with me, a Cat of distinction,

-without knowing me better. I regarded him frigidly and, to give him a

-lesson, I told him that I belonged to the Temperance Society.

-

-"I see, sir," I said to him, "by your accent and by the looseness of

-your conversation, that you, like all Catholic Cats, are inclined to

-laugh and make sport, believing that confession will purge you, but in

-England we have another standard of morality. We are always respectable,

-even in our pleasures."

-

-This young Cat, struck by the majesty of English cant, listened to me

-with a kind of attention which made me hope I could convert him to

-Protestantism. He then told me in purple words that he would do anything

-I wished provided I would permit him to adore me. I looked at him

-without being able to reply because his very beautiful and splendid eyes

-sparkled like stars; they lighted the night. Made bold by my silence, he

-cried "Dear Minette!"

-

-"What new indecency is this?" I demanded, being well aware that French

-Cats are very free in their references.

-

-Brisquet assured me that on the continent everybody, even the King

-himself, said to his daughter, _Ma petite Minette_, to show his

-affection, that many of the prettiest and most aristocratic young wives

-called their husbands, _Mon petit chat_, even when they did not love

-them. If I wanted to please him I would call him, _Mon petit homme_!

-Then he raised his paws with infinite grace. Thoroughly frightened I ran

-away. Brisquet was so happy that he sang _Rule Britannia_, and the next

-day his dear voice hummed again in my ears.

-

-"Ah! you also are in love, dear Beauty," my mistress said to me,

-observing me extended on the carpet, the paws flat, the body in soft

-abandon, bathing in the poetry of my memories.

-

-I was astonished that a woman should show so much intelligence, and so,

-raising my dorsal spine, I began to rub up against her legs and to purr

-lovingly with the deepest chords of my contralto voice.

-

-While my mistress was scratching my head and caressing me and while I

-was looking at her tenderly a scene occurred in Bond Street which had

-terrible results for me.

-

-Puck, a nephew of Puff's, in line to succeed him and who, for the time

-being, lived in the barracks of the Life Guards, ran into my dear

-Brisquet. The sly Captain Puck complimented the _attaché_ on his success

-with me, adding that I had resisted the most charming Toms in England.

-Brisquet, foolish, vain Frenchman that he was, responded that he would

-be happy to gain my attention, but that he had a horror of Cats who

-spoke to him of temperance, the Bible, etc.

-

-"Oh!" said Puck, "she talks to you then?"

-

-Dear French Brisquet thus became a victim of English diplomacy, but

-later he committed one of these impardonable faults which irritate all

-well-bred Cats in England. This little idiot was truly very

-inconsistent. Did he not bow to me in Hyde Park and try to talk with me

-familiarly as if we were well acquainted? I looked straight through him

-coldly and severely. The coachman seeing this Frenchman insult me

-slashed him with his whip. Brisquet was cut but not killed and he

-received the blow with such nonchalance, continuing to look at me, that

-I was absolutely fascinated. I loved him for the manner in which he took

-his punishment, seeing only me, feeling only the favour of my presence,

-conquering the natural inclination of Cats to flee at the slightest

-warning of hostility. He could not know that I came near dying, in spite

-of my apparent coldness. From that moment I made up my mind to elope.

-That evening, on the roof, I threw myself tremblingly into his arms.

-

-"My dear," I asked him, "have you the capital necessary to pay damages

-to old Puff?"

-

-"I have no other capital," replied the French Cat, laughing, "than the

-hairs of my moustache, my four paws, and this tail." Then he swept the

-gutter with a proud gesture.

-

-"Not any capital," I cried, "but then you are only an adventurer, my

-dear!"

-

-"I love adventures," he said to me tenderly. "In France it is the custom

-to fight a duel in the circumstances to which you allude. French Cats

-have recourse to their claws and not to their gold."

-

-"Poor country," I said to him, "and why does it send beasts so denuded

-of capital to the foreign embassies?"

-

-"That's simple enough," said Brisquet. "Our new government does not love

-money--at least it does not love its employees to have money. It only

-seeks intellectual capacity."

-

-Dear Brisquet answered me so lightly that I began to fear he was

-conceited.

-

-"Love without money is nonsense," I said. "While you were seeking food

-you would not occupy yourself with me, my dear."

-

-By way of response this charming Frenchman assured me that he was a

-direct descendant of Puss in Boots. Besides he had ninety-nine ways of

-borrowing money and we would have, he said, only a single way of

-spending it. To conclude, he knew music and could give lessons. In fact,

-he sang to me, in poignant tones, a national romance of his country, _Au

-clair de la lune_....

-

-At this inopportune moment, when seduced by his reasoning, I had

-promised dear Brisquet to run away with him as soon as he could keep a

-wife comfortably, Puck appeared, followed by several other Cats.

-

-"I am lost!" I cried.

-

-The very next day, indeed, the bench of Doctors' Commons was occupied by

-a _procès-verbal_ in criminal conversation. Puff was deaf; his nephews

-took advantage of his weakness. Questioned by them, Puff said that at

-night I had flattered him by calling him, _Mon petit homme_! This was

-one of the most terrible things against me, because I could not explain

-where I had learned these words of love. The judge, without knowing it,

-was prejudiced against me, and I noted that he was in his second

-childhood. His lordship never suspected the low intrigues of which I was

-the victim. Many little Cats, who should have defended me against public

-opinion, swore that Puff was always asking for his angel, the joy of his

-eyes, his sweet Beauty! My own mother, come to London, refused to see me

-or to speak to me, saying that an English Cat should always be above

-suspicion, and that I had embittered her old age. Finally the servants

-testified against me. I then saw perfectly clearly how everybody lost

-his head in England. When it is a matter of a criminal conversation, all

-sentiment is dead; a mother is no longer a mother, a nurse wants to take

-back her milk, and all the Cats howl in the streets. But the most

-infamous thing of all was that my old attorney who, in his time, would

-believe in the innocence of the Queen of England, to whom I had

-confessed everything to the last detail, who had assured me that there

-was no reason to whip a Cat, and to whom, to prove my innocence, I

-avowed that I did not even know the meaning of the words, "criminal

-conversation" (he told me that the crime was so called precisely because

-one spoke so little while committing it), this attorney, bribed by

-Captain Puck, defended me so badly that my case appeared to be lost.

-Under these circumstances I went on the stand myself.

-

-"My Lords," I said, "I am an English Cat and I am innocent. What would

-be said of the justice of old England if...."

-

-Hardly had I pronounced these words than I was interrupted by a murmur

-of voices, so strongly had the public been influenced by the

-_Cat-Chronicle_ and by Puck's friends.

-

-"She questions the justice of old England which has created the jury!"

-cried some one.

-

-"She wishes to explain to you, My Lords," cried my adversary's

-abominable lawyer, "that she went on the rooftop with a French Cat in

-order to convert him to the Anglican faith, when, as a matter of fact,

-she went there to learn how to say, _Mon petit homme_, in French, to her

-husband, to listen to the abominable principles of papism, and to learn

-to disregard the laws and customs of old England!"

-

-Such piffle always drives an English audience wild. Therefore the words

-of Puck's attorney were received with tumultuous applause. I was

-condemned at the age of twenty-six months, when I could prove that I

-still was ignorant of the very meaning of the word, Tom. But from all

-this I gathered that it was on account of such practices that Albion

-was called Old England.

-

-I fell into a deep miscathropy which was caused less by my divorce than

-by the death of my dear Brisquet, whom Puck had had killed by a mob,

-fearing his vengeance. Also nothing made me more furious than to hear

-the loyalty of English Cats spoken of.

-

-You see, O! French Animals, that in familiarizing ourselves with men, we

-borrow from them all their vices and bad institutions. Let us return to

-the wild life where we obey only our instincts, and where we do not find

-customs in conflict with the sacred wishes of Nature. At this moment I

-am writing a treatise on the abuse of the working classes of animals, in

-order to get them to pledge themselves to refrain from turning spits, to

-refuse to allow themselves to be harnessed to carriages, in order, to

-sum up, to teach them the means of protecting themselves against the

-oppression of the grand aristocracy. Although we are celebrated for our

-scribbling I believe that Miss Martineau would not repudiate me. You

-know that on the continent literature has become the haven of all Cats

-who protest against the immoral monopoly of marriage, who resist the

-tyranny of institutions, and who desire to encourage natural laws. I

-have omitted to tell you that, although Brisquet's body was slashed with

-a wound in the back, the coroner, by an infamous hypocrisy, declared

-that he had poisoned himself with arsenic, as if so gay, so light-headed

-a Cat could have reflected long enough on the subject of life to

-conceive so serious an idea, and as if a Cat whom I loved could have the

-least desire to quit this existence! But with Marsh's apparatus spots

-have been found on a plate.

-

-                                                     HONORÉ DE BALZAC.

-

-                                          Translated by Carl Van Vechten.

-

-

-

-

-GIPSY

-

-

-On a fair Saturday afternoon in November Penrod's little old dog Duke

-returned to the ways of his youth and had trouble with a strange cat on

-the back porch. This indiscretion, so uncharacteristic, was due to the

-agitation of a surprised moment, for Duke's experience had inclined him

-to a peaceful pessimism, and he had no ambition for hazardous

-undertakings of any sort. He was given to musing but not to avoidable

-action, and he seemed habitually to hope for something which he was

-pretty sure would not happen. Even in his sleep, this gave him an air of

-wistfulness.

-

-Thus, being asleep in a nook behind the metal refuse-can, when the

-strange cat ventured to ascend the steps of the porch, his appearance

-was so unwarlike that the cat felt encouraged to extend its field of

-reconnaissance--for the cook had been careless, and the backbone of a

-three-pound whitefish lay at the foot of the refuse-can.

-

-This cat was, for a cat, needlessly tall, powerful, independent, and

-masculine. Once, long ago, he had been a roly-poly pepper-and-salt

-kitten; he had a home in those days, and a name, "Gipsy," which he

-abundantly justified. He was precocious in dissipation. Long before his

-adolescence, his lack of domesticity was ominous, and he had formed bad

-companionships. Meanwhile, he grew so rangy, and developed such length

-and power of leg and such traits of character, that the father of the

-little girl who owned him was almost convincing when he declared that

-the young cat was half broncho and half Malay pirate--though, in the

-light of Gipsy's later career, this seems bitterly unfair to even the

-lowest orders of bronchos and Malay pirates.

-

-No; Gipsy was not the pet for a little girl. The rosy hearthstone and

-sheltered rug were too circumspect for him. Surrounded by the comforts

-of middle-class respectability, and profoundly oppressed, even in his

-youth, by the Puritan ideals of the household, he sometimes experienced

-a sense of suffocation. He wanted free air and he wanted free life; he

-wanted the lights, the lights, and the music. He abandoned the

-_bourgeoisie_ irrevocably. He went forth in a May twilight, carrying the

-evening beefsteak with him, and joined the underworld.

-

-His extraordinary size, his daring, and his utter lack of sympathy soon

-made him the leader--and, at the same time, the terror--of all the

-loose-lived cats in a wide neighbourhood. He contracted no friendships

-and had no confidants. He seldom slept in the same place twice in

-succession, and though he was wanted by the police, he was not found. In

-appearance he did not lack distinction of an ominous sort; the slow,

-rhythmic, perfectly controlled mechanism of his tail, as he impressively

-walked abroad, was incomparably sinister. This stately and dangerous

-walk of his, his long, vibrant whiskers, his scars, his yellow eye, so

-ice-cold, so fire-hot, haughty as the eye of Satan, gave him the deadly

-air of a mousquetaire duellist. His soul was in that walk and in that

-eye; it could be read--the soul of a bravo of fortune, living on his

-wits and his valour, asking no favours and granting no quarter.

-Intolerant, proud, sullen, yet watchful and constantly planning--purely

-a militarist, believing in slaughter as in a religion, and confident

-that art, science, poetry, and the good of the world were happily

-advanced thereby--Gipsy had become, though technically not a wildcat,

-undoubtedly the most untamed cat at large in the civilized world. Such,

-in brief, was the terrifying creature which now elongated its neck, and,

-over the top step of the porch, bent a calculating scrutiny upon the

-wistful and slumberous Duke.

-

-The scrutiny was searching but not prolonged. Gipsy muttered

-contemptuously to himself, "Oh, sheol; I'm not afraid o' _that_!" And he

-approached the fishbone, his padded feet making no noise upon the

-boards. It was a desirable fishbone, large, with a considerable portion

-of the fish's tail still attached to it.

-

-It was about a foot from Duke's nose, and the little dog's dreams began

-to be troubled by his olfactory nerve. This faithful sentinel, on guard

-even while Duke slept, signalled that alarums and excursions by parties

-unknown were taking place, and suggested that attention might well be

-paid. Duke opened one drowsy eye. What that eye beheld was monstrous.

-

-Here was a strange experience--the horrific vision in the midst of

-things so accustomed. Sunshine fell sweetly upon porch and backyard;

-yonder was the familiar stable, and from its interior came the busy hum

-of a carpenter shop, established that morning by Duke's young master, in

-association with Samuel Williams and Herman. Here, close by, were the

-quiet refuse-can and the wonted brooms and mops leaning against the

-latticed wall at the end of the porch, and there, by the foot of the

-steps, was the stone slab of the cistern, with the iron cover displaced

-and lying beside the round opening, where the carpenters had left it,

-not half an hour ago, after lowering a stick of wood into the water, "to

-season it." All about Duke were these usual and reassuring environs of

-his daily life, and yet it was his fate to behold, right in the midst of

-them, and in ghastly juxtaposition to his face, a thing of nightmare and

-lunacy.

-

-Gipsy had seized the fishbone by the middle. Out from one side of his

-head, and mingling with his whiskers, projected the long, spiked spine

-of the big fish: down from the other side of that ferocious head dangled

-the fish's tail, and from above the remarkable effect thus produced shot

-the intolerable glare of two yellow eyes. To the gaze of Duke, still

-blurred by slumber, this monstrosity was all of one piece--the bone

-seemed a living part of it. What he saw was like those interesting

-insect-faces which the magnifying glass reveals to great M. Fabre. It

-was impossible for Duke to maintain the philosophic calm of M. Fabre,

-however; there was no magnifying glass between him and this spined and

-spiky face. Indeed, Duke was not in a position to think the matter over

-quietly. If he had been able to do that, he would have said to himself:

-"We have here an animal of most peculiar and unattractive appearance,

-though, upon examination, it seems to be only a cat stealing a fishbone.

-Nevertheless, as the thief is large beyond all my recollection of cats

-and has an unpleasant stare, I will leave this spot at once."

-

-On the contrary, Duke was so electrified by his horrid awakening that he

-completely lost his presence of mind. In the very instant of his first

-eye's opening, the other eye and his mouth behaved similarly, the latter

-loosing upon the quiet air one shriek of mental agony before the little

-dog scrambled to his feet and gave further employment to his voice in a

-frenzy of profanity. At the same time the subterranean diapason of a

-demoniac bass viol was heard; it rose to a wail, and rose and rose again

-till it screamed like a small siren. It was Gipsy's war-cry, and, at the

-sound of it, Duke became a frothing maniac. He made a convulsive frontal

-attack upon the hobgoblin--and the massacre began.

-

-Never releasing the fishbone for an instant, Gipsy laid back his ears in

-a chilling way, beginning to shrink into himself like a concertina, but

-rising amidships so high that he appeared to be giving an imitation of

-that peaceful beast, the dromedary. Such was not his purpose, however,

-for, having attained his greatest possible altitude, he partially sat

-down and elevated his right arm after the manner of a semaphore. This

-semaphore arm remained rigid for a second, threatening; then it vibrated

-with inconceivable rapidity, feinting. But it was the treacherous left

-that did the work. Seemingly this left gave Duke three lightning little

-pats upon the right ear, but the change in his voice indicated that

-these were no love-taps. He yelled "help!" and "bloody murder!"

-

-Never had such a shattering uproar, all vocal, broken out upon a

-peaceful afternoon. Gipsy possessed a vocabulary for cat-swearing

-certainly second to none out of Italy, and probably equal to the best

-there, while Duke remembered and uttered things he had not thought of

-for years.

-

-The hum of the carpenter shop ceased, and Sam Williams appeared in the

-stable doorway. He stared insanely.

-

-"My gorry!" he shouted. "Duke's havin' a fight with the biggest cat you

-ever saw in your life! C'mon!"

-

-His feet were already in motion toward the battlefield, with Penrod and

-Herman hurrying in his wake. Onward they sped, and Duke was encouraged

-by the sight and sound of these reinforcements to increase his own

-outrageous clamours and to press home his attack. But he was

-ill-advised. This time it was the right arm of the semaphore that

-dipped--and Duke's honest nose was but too conscious of what happened in

-consequence.

-

-A lump of dirt struck the refuse-can with violence, and Gipsy beheld the

-advance of overwhelming forces. They rushed upon him from two

-directions, cutting off the steps of the porch. Undaunted, the

-formidable cat raked Duke's nose again, somewhat more lingeringly, and

-prepared to depart with his fishbone. He had little fear for himself,

-because he was inclined to think that, unhampered, he could whip

-anything on earth; still, things seemed to be growing rather warm and he

-saw nothing to prevent his leaving.

-

-And though he could laugh in the face of so unequal an antagonist as

-Duke, Gipsy felt that he was never at his best or able to do himself

-full justice unless he could perform that feline operation inaccurately

-known as "spitting." To his notion, this was an absolute essential to

-combat; but, as all cats of the slightest pretensions to technique

-perfectly understand, it can neither be well done nor produce the best

-effects unless the mouth be opened to its utmost capacity so as to

-expose the beginnings of the alimentary canal, down which--at least that

-is the intention of the threat--the opposing party will soon be passing.

-And Gipsy could not open his mouth without relinquishing his fishbone.

-

-Therefore, on small accounts he decided to leave the field to his

-enemies and to carry the fishbone elsewhere. He took two giant leaps.

-The first landed him upon the edge of the porch. There, without an

-instant's pause, he gathered his fur-sheathed muscles, concentrated

-himself into one big steel spring, and launched himself superbly into

-space. He made a stirring picture, however brief, as he left the solid

-porch behind him and sailed upward on an ascending curve into the sunlit

-air. His head was proudly up; he was the incarnation of menacing power

-and of self-confidence. It is possible that the white-fish's spinal

-column and flopping tail had interfered with his vision, and in

-launching himself he may have mistaken the dark, round opening of the

-cistern for its dark, round cover. In that case, it was a leap

-calculated and executed with precision, for as the boys clamoured their

-pleased astonishment, Gipsy descended accurately into the orifice and

-passed majestically from public view, with the fishbone still in his

-mouth and his haughty head still high.

-

-There was a grand splash!                    BOOTH TARKINGTON.

-

-

-

-

-THE BLUE DRYAD

-

-

-"According to that theory"--said a critical friend, _à propos_ of the

-last story but one--"susceptibility of 'discipline' would be the chief

-test of animal character, which means that the best dogs get their

-character from men. If so--"

-

-"You pity the poor brutes?"

-

-"Oh no. I was going to say that on that principle cats should have next

-to no character at all."

-

-"They have plenty," I said, "but it's usually bad--at least hopelessly

-unromantic. Who ever heard of a heroic or self-denying cat? Cats do what

-they like, not what you want them to do."

-

-He laughed. "Sometimes they do what you like very much. You haven't

-heard Mrs. Warburton-Kinneir's cat-story?"

-

-"The Warburton-Kinneirs! I didn't know they were back in England."

-

-"Oh yes. They've been six months in Hampshire, and now they are in town.

-She has Thursday afternoons."

-

-"Good," I said, "I'll go the very next Friday, and take my chance...."

-

-Fortunately only one visitor appeared to tea. And as soon as I had

-explained my curiosity, he joined me in petitioning for the story which

-follows:--

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Stoffles was her name, a familiar abbreviation, and Mephistophelian was

-her nature. She had all the usual vices of the feline tribe, including

-a double portion of those which men are so fond of describing as

-feminine. Vain, indolent, selfish, with a highly cultivated taste for

-luxury and neatness in her personal appearance, she was distinguished by

-all those little irritating habits and traits for which nothing but an

-affectionate heart (a thing in her case conspicuous by its absence) can

-atone.

-

-It would be incorrect, perhaps, to say that Stoffles did not care for

-the society of my husband and myself. She liked the best of everything,

-and these our circumstances allowed us to give her. For the rest, though

-in kitten days suspected of having caught a mouse, she had never been

-known in after life to do anything which the most lax of economists

-could describe as useful. She would lie all day in the best arm-chair

-enjoying real or pretended slumbers, which never affected her appetite

-at supper-time; although in that eventide which is the feline morn she

-would, if certain of a sufficient number of admiring spectators,

-condescend to amuse their dull human intelligence by exhibitions of her

-dexterity. But she was soon bored, and had no conception of altruistic

-effort. Abundantly cautious and prudent in all matters concerning her

-own safety and comfort, she had that feline celerity of vanishing like

-air or water before the foot, hand, or missile of irritated man; while

-on the other hand, when a sensitive specimen of the gentler sex (my

-grandmother, for example) was attentively holding the door open for her,

-she would stiffen and elongate her whole body, and, regardless of all

-exhibitions of kindly impatience, proceed out of the drawing-room as

-slowly as a funeral _cortège_ of crocodiles.

-

-A good-looking Persian cat is an ornamental piece of furniture in a

-house; but though fond of animals, I never succeeded in getting up an

-affection for Stoffles until the occurrence of the incident here to be

-related. Even in this, however, I cannot conceal from myself that the

-share which she took was taken, as usual, solely for her own

-satisfaction.

-

-We lived, you know, in a comfortable old-fashioned house facing the

-highroad, on the slope of a green hill from which one looked across the

-gleaming estuary (or the broad mud-flats) of Southampton Water on to the

-rich, rolling woodland of the New Forest. I say we, but in fact for some

-months I had been alone, and my husband had just returned from one of

-his sporting and scientific expeditions in South America. He had already

-won fame as a naturalist, and had succeeded in bringing home alive quite

-a variety of beasts, usually of the reptile order, whose extreme rarity

-seemed to me a merciful provision of Nature.

-

-But all his previous triumphs were completely eclipsed, I soon learned,

-by the capture, alive, on this last expedition, of an abominably

-poisonous snake, known to those who knew it as the Blue Dryad, or more

-familiarly in backwoods slang, as the Half-hour Striker, in vague

-reference to its malignant and fatal qualities. The time in which a

-snake-bite takes effect is, by the way, no very exact test of its

-virulence, the health and condition not only of the victim, but of the

-snake, having of course to be taken into account.

-

-But the Blue Dryad, sometimes erroneously described as a variety of

-rattlesnake, is, I understand, supposed to kill the average man, under

-favourable circumstances, in less time even than the deadly

-Copperhead--which it somewhat resembles, except that it is larger in

-size, and bears a peculiar streak of faint peacock-blue down the back,

-only perceptible in a strong light. This precious reptile was destined

-for the Zoological Gardens.

-

-Being in extremely delicate health at the time, I need hardly say that I

-knew nothing of these gruesome details until afterwards. Henry (that is

-my husband), after entering my room with a robust and sunburned

-appearance that did my heart good, merely observed--as soon as we had

-exchanged greetings--that he had brought home a pretty snake which

-"wouldn't (just as long, that is to say, as it couldn't) do the

-slightest harm,"--an evasive assurance which I accepted as became the

-nervous wife of an enthusiastic naturalist. I believe I insisted on its

-not coming into the house.

-

-The cook, indeed, on my husband expressing a wish to put it in the

-kitchen, had taken up a firmer position: she had threatened to "scream"

-if "the vermin" were introduced into her premises; which ultimatum,

-coming from a stalwart young woman with unimpaired lungs, was

-sufficient.

-

-Fortunately the weather was very hot (being in July of the

-ever-memorable summer of 1893), so it was decided that the Blue Dryad,

-wrapped in flannel and securely confined in a basket, should be left in

-the sun, on the farthest corner of the verandah, during the hour or so

-in the afternoon when my husband had to visit the town on business.

-

-He had gone off with a cousin of mine, an officer of Engineers in

-India, stationed, I think, at Lahore, and home on leave. I remember that

-they were a long time, or what seemed to me a long time, over their

-luncheon; and the last remark of our guest as he came out of the

-dining-room remained in my head as even meaningless words will run in

-the head of any idle invalid shut up for most of the day in a silent

-room. What he said was, in the positive tone of one emphasizing a

-curious and surprising statement, "D'you know, by the way, it's the

-_one_ animal that doesn't care a rap for the cobra." And, my husband

-seeming to express disbelief and a desire to change the subject as they

-entered my boudoir, "It's a holy fact! Goes for it, so smart! Has the

-beggar on toast before you can say 'Jack Robinson!'"

-

-The observation did not interest me, but simply ran in my head. Then

-they came into my room, only for a few moments, as I was not to be

-tired. The Engineer tried to amuse Stoffles, who was seized with such a

-fit of mortal boredom that he transferred his attentions to Ruby, the

-Gordon setter, a devoted and inseparable friend of mine, under whose

-charge I was shortly left as they passed out of the house. The

-Lieutenant, it appears, went last, and inadvertently closed without

-fastening the verandah door. Thereby hangs a tale of the most trying

-quarter of an hour it has been my lot to experience.

-

-I suppose I may have been asleep for ten minutes or so when I was

-awakened by the noise of Ruby's heavy body jumping out through the open

-window. Feeling restless and seeing me asleep, he had imagined himself

-entitled to a short spell off guard. Had the door not been ostensibly

-latched he would have made his way out by it, being thoroughly used to

-opening doors and such tricks--a capacity which in fact proved fatal to

-him. That it was unlatched I saw in a few moments, for the dog on his

-return forced it open with a push and trotted up in a disturbed manner

-to my bedside. I noticed a tiny spot of blood on the black side of his

-nose, and naturally supposed he had scratched himself against a bush or

-a piece of wire. "Ruby," I said, "what have you been doing?" Then he

-whined as if in pain, crouching close to my side and shaking in every

-limb. I should say that I was myself lying with a shawl over my feet on

-a deep sofa with a high back. I turned to look at Stoffles, who was

-slowly perambulating the room, looking for flies and other insects (her

-favourite amusement) on the wainscot. When I glanced again at the dog

-his appearance filled me with horror; he was standing, obviously from

-pain, swaying from side to side and breathing hard. As I watched, his

-body grew more and more rigid. With his eyes fixed on the half-open

-door, he drew back as if from the approach of some dreaded object,

-raised his head with a pitiful attempt at a bark, which broke off into a

-stifled howl, rolled over sideways suddenly, and lay dead. The horrid

-stiffness of the body, almost resembling a stuffed creature overset,

-made me believe that he had died as he stood, close to my side, perhaps

-meaning to defend me--more probably, since few dogs would be proof

-against such a terror, trusting that I should protect him against the

-_thing coming in at the door_. Unable to resist the unintelligible idea

-that the dog had been frightened to death, I followed the direction of

-his last gaze, and at first saw nothing. The next moment I observed

-round the corner of the verandah door a small, dark, and slender object,

-swaying gently up and down like a dry bough in the wind. It had passed

-right into the room with the same slow, regular motion before I realized

-what it was and what had happened.

-

-My poor, stupid Ruby must have nosed at the basket on the verandah till

-he succeeded somehow in opening it, and have been bitten in return for

-his pains by the abominable beast which had been warranted in this

-insufficient manner to do no harm, and which I now saw angrily rearing

-its head and hissing fiercely at the dead dog within three yards of my

-face.

-

-I am not one of those women who jump on chairs or tables when they see a

-mouse, but I have a constitutional horror of the most harmless reptiles.

-Watching the Blue Dryad as it glided across the patch of sunlight

-streaming in from the open window, and knowing what it was, I confess to

-being as nearly frightened out of my wits as I ever hope to be. If I had

-been well, perhaps I might have managed to scream and run away. As it

-was, I simply dared not speak or move a finger for fear of attracting

-the beast's attention to myself. Thus I remained a terrified spectator

-of the astonishing scene which followed. The whole thing seemed to me

-like a dream. As the beast entered the room, I seemed again to hear my

-cousin making the remark above mentioned about the cobra. _What_ animal,

-I wondered dreamily, could he have meant? Not Ruby! Ruby was dead. I

-looked at his stiff body again and shuddered. The whistle of a train

-sounded from the valley below, and then an errand-boy passed along the

-road at the back of the house (for the second or third time that day)

-singing in a cracked voice the fragment of a popular melody, of which I

-am sorry to say I know no more--

-

-          "I've got a little cat,

-          And I'm very fond of that;

-    But daddy wouldn't buy me a bow, wow, wow;"

-

-the _wow-wows_ becoming fainter and further as the youth strode down the

-hill. If I had been "myself," as the poor folk say, this coincidence

-would have made me laugh, for at that very moment Stoffles, weary of

-patting flies and spiders on the back, appeared gently purring on the

-crest, so to speak, of the sofa.

-

-It has often occurred to me since that if the scale of things had been

-enlarged--if Stoffles, for example, had been a Bengal tiger, and the

-Dryad a boa-constrictor or crocodile,--the tragedy which followed would

-have been worthy of the pen of any sporting and dramatic historian. I

-can only say that, being transacted in such objectionable proximity to

-myself, the thing was as impressive as any combat of mastodon and

-iguanodon could have been to primitive man.

-

-Stoffles, as I have said, was inordinately vain and self-conscious.

-Stalking along the top of the sofa-back and bearing erect the bushy

-banner of her magnificent tail, she looked the most ridiculous creature

-imaginable. She had proceeded half-way on this pilgrimage towards me

-when suddenly, with the rapidity of lightning, as her ear caught the

-sound of the hiss and her eyes fell upon the Blue Dryad, her whole

-civilized "play-acting" demeanour vanished, and her body stiffened and

-contracted to the form of a watchful wild beast with the ferocious and

-instinctive antipathy to a natural enemy blazing from its eyes. No

-change of a shaken kaleidoscope could have been more complete or more

-striking. In one light bound she was on the floor in a compressed,

-defensive attitude, with all four feet close together, near, but not too

-near, the unknown but clearly hostile intruder; and to my surprise, the

-snake turned and made off towards the window. Stoffles trotted lightly

-after, obviously interested in its method of locomotion. Then she made a

-long arm and playfully dropped a paw upon its tail. The snake wriggled

-free in a moment, and coiling its whole length, some three and a half

-feet, fronted this new and curious antagonist.

-

-At the very first moment, I need hardly say, I expected that one short

-stroke of that little pointed head against the cat's delicate body would

-quickly have settled everything. But one is apt to forget that a snake

-(I suppose because in romances snakes always "dart") can move but slowly

-and awkwardly over a smooth surface, such as a tiled or wooden floor.

-The long body, in spite of its wonderful construction, and of the

-attitudes in which it is frequently drawn, is no less subject to the

-laws of gravitation than that of a hedgehog. A snake that "darts" when

-it has nothing secure to hold on by, only overbalances itself. With half

-or two-thirds of the body firmly coiled against some rough object or

-surface, the head--of a poisonous snake at least--is indeed a deadly

-weapon of precision. This particular reptile, perhaps by some instinct,

-had now wriggled itself on to a large and thick fur rug about twelve

-feet square, upon which arena took place the extraordinary contest that

-followed.

-

-The audacity of the cat astonished me from the first. I have no reason

-to believe she had ever seen a snake before, yet by a sort of instinct

-she seemed to know exactly what she was doing. As the Dryad raised its

-head, with glittering eyes and forked tongue, Stoffles crouched with

-both front paws in the air, sparring as I had seen her do sometimes with

-a large moth. The first round passed so swiftly that mortal eye could

-hardly see with distinctness what happened. The snake made a dart, and

-the cat, all claws, aimed two rapid blows at its advancing head. The

-first missed, but the second I could see came home, as the brute,

-shaking its neck and head, withdrew further into the jungle--I mean, of

-course, the rug. But Stoffles, who had no idea of the match ending in

-this manner, crept after it, with an air of attractive carelessness

-which was instantly rewarded. A full two feet of the Dryad's body

-straightened like a black arrow, and seemed to strike right into the

-furry side of its antagonist--seemed, I say, to slow going human eyes;

-but the latter shrank, literally _fell_ back, collapsing with such

-suddenness that she seemed to have turned herself inside out, and become

-the mere skin of a cat. As the serpent recovered itself, she pounced on

-it like lightning, driving at least half a dozen claws well home, and

-then, apparently realizing that she had not a good enough hold, sprang

-lightly into the air from off the body, alighting about a yard off.

-There followed a minute of sparring in the air; the snake seemingly

-half afraid to strike, the cat waiting on its every movement.

-

-Now, the poisonous snake when provoked is an irritable animal, and the

-next attack of the Dryad, maddened by the scratchings of puss and its

-own unsuccessful exertions, was so furious, and so close to myself, that

-I shuddered for the result. Before this stage, I might perhaps, with a

-little effort have escaped, but now panic fear glued me to the spot;

-indeed I could not have left my position on the sofa without almost

-treading upon Stoffles, whose bristling back was not a yard from my

-feet. At last, I thought--as the Blue Dryad, for one second coiled close

-as a black silk cable, sprang out the next as straight and sharp as the

-piston-rod of an engine,--this lump of feline vanity and conceit is done

-for, and--I could not help thinking--it will probably be my turn next!

-Little did I appreciate the resources of Stoffles, who without a change

-in her vigilant pose, without a wink of her fierce green eyes, sprang

-backwards and upwards on to the top of me and there confronted the enemy

-as calm as ever, sitting, if you please, upon my feet! I don't know that

-any gymnastic performance ever surprised me more than this, though I

-have seen this very beast drop twenty feet from a window-sill on to a

-stone pavement without appearing to notice any particular change of

-level. Cats with so much plumage have probably their own reasons for not

-flying.

-

-Trembling all over with fright, I could not but observe that she was

-trembling too--with rage. Whether instinct inspired her with the

-advantages of a situation so extremely unpleasant to me, I cannot say.

-The last act of the drama rapidly approached, and no more strategic

-catastrophe was ever seen.

-

-For a snake, as everybody knows, naturally rears its head when fighting.

-In that position, though one may hit it with a stick, it is extremely

-difficult, as this battle had shown, to get hold of. Now, as the Dryad,

-curled to a capital S, quivering and hissing advanced for the last time

-to the charge, it was bound to strike across the edge of the sofa on

-which I lay, at the erect head of Stoffles, which vanished with a

-juggling celerity that would have dislocated the collar-bone of any

-other animal in creation. From such an exertion the snake recovered

-itself with an obvious effort, quick beyond question, but not nearly

-quick enough. Before I could well see that it had missed its aim,

-Stoffles had launched out like a spring released, and, burying eight or

-ten claws in the back of its enemy's head, pinned it down against the

-stiff cushion of the sofa. The tail of the agonized reptile flung wildly

-in the air and flapped on the arched back of the imperturbable tigress.

-The whiskered muzzle of Stoffles dropped quietly, and her teeth met

-once, twice, thrice, like the needle and hook of a sewing-machine, in

-the neck of the Blue Dryad; and when, after much deliberation, she let

-it go, the beast fell into a limp tangle on the floor.

-

-When I saw that the thing was really dead I believe I must have fainted.

-Coming to myself, I heard hurried steps and voices. "Great heavens!" my

-husband was screaming, "where has the brute got to?" "It's all right,"

-said the Engineer; "just you come and look here, old man. Commend me to

-the coolness of that cat. After the murder of your priceless specimen,

-here's Stoffles cleaning her fur in one of her serenest Anglo-Saxon

-attitudes."

-

-So she was. My husband looked grave as I described the scene. "Didn't I

-tell you so?" said the Engineer, "and this beast, I take it, is worse

-than any cobra."

-

-I can easily believe he was right. From the gland of the said beast, as

-I afterwards learned, they extracted enough poison to be the death of

-twenty full-grown human beings.

-

-Tightly clasped between its minute teeth was found (what interested me

-more) a few long hairs, late the property of Stoffles.

-

-Stoffles, however--she is still with us--has a superfluity of long hair,

-and is constantly leaving it about.

-

-                                                        G. H. POWELL.

-

-

-

-

-DICK BAKER'S CAT

-

-

-One of my comrades there--another of those victims of eighteen years of

-unrequited toil and blighted hopes--was one of the gentlest spirits that

-ever bore its patient cross in a weary exile: grave and simple Dick

-Baker, pocket-miner of Dead-Horse Gulch. He was forty-six, grey as a

-rat, earnest, thoughtful, slenderly educated, slouchily dressed and

-clay-soiled, but his heart was finer metal than any gold his shovel ever

-brought to light--than any, indeed, that ever was mined or minted.

-

-Whenever he was out of luck and a little downhearted, he would fall to

-mourning over the loss of a wonderful cat he used to own (for where

-women and children are not, men of kindly impulses take up with pets,

-for they must love something). And he always spoke of the strange

-sagacity of that cat with the air of a man who believed in his secret

-heart that there was something human about it--maybe even supernatural.

-

-I heard him talking about this animal once. He said:

-

-"Gentlemen, I used to have a cat here, by the name of Tom Quartz, which

-you'd 'a' took an interest in, I reckon--, most anybody would. I had him

-here eight year--and he was the remarkablest cat _I_ ever see. He was a

-large grey one of the Tom specie, an' he had more hard, natchral sense

-than any man in this camp--'n' a _power_ of dignity--he wouldn't let the

-Gov'ner of Californy be familiar with him. He never ketched a rat in

-his life--'peared to be above it. He never cared for nothing but mining.

-He knowed more about mining, that cat did, than any man _I_ ever, ever

-see. You couldn't tell _him_ noth'n' 'bout placer-diggin's--'n' as for

-pocket-mining, why he was just born for it. He would dig out after me

-an' Jim when we went over the hills prospect'n', and he would trot along

-behind us for as much as five mile, if we went so fur. An' he had the

-best judgment about mining-ground--why you never see anything like it.

-When we went to work, he'd scatter a glance around, 'n' if he didn't

-think much of the indications, he would give a look as much as to say,

-'Well, I'll have to get you to excuse _me_,' 'n' without another word

-he'd hyste his nose into the air 'n' shove for home. But if the ground

-suited him, he would lay low 'n' keep dark till the first pan was

-washed, 'n' then he would sidle up 'n' take a look, an' if there was

-about six or seven grains of gold _he_ was satisfied--he didn't want no

-better prospect 'n' that--'n' then he would lay down on our coats and

-snore like a steamboat till we'd struck the pocket, an' then get up 'n'

-superintend. He was nearly lightnin' on superintending.

-

-"Well, by an' by, up comes this yer quartz excitement. Everybody was

-into it--everybody was pick'n' 'n' blast'n' instead of shovelin' dirt on

-the hillside--everybody was putt'n' down a shaft instead of scrapin' the

-surface. Noth'n' would do Jim, but _we_ must tackle the ledges, too, 'n'

-so we did. We commenced putt'n' down a shaft, 'n' Tom Quartz he begin to

-wonder what in the Dickens it was all about. _He_ hadn't ever seen any

-mining like that before, 'n' he was all upset, as you may say--he

-couldn't come to a right understanding of it no way--it was too many for

-_him_. He was down on it too, you bet you--he was down on it

-powerful--'n' always appeared to consider it the cussedest foolishness

-out. But that cat, you know, was _always_ agin new-fangled

-arrangements--somehow he never could abide 'em. _You_ know how it is

-with old habits. But by an' by Tom Quartz begin to git sort of

-reconciled a little, though he never _could_ altogether understand that

-eternal sinkin' of a shaft an' never pannin' out anything. At last he

-got to comin' down in the shaft, hisself, to try to cipher it out. An'

-when he'd git the blues, 'n' feel kind o' scruffy, 'n' aggravated 'n'

-disgusted--knowin' as he did, that the bills was runnin' up all the time

-an' we warn't makin' a cent--he would curl up on a gunny-sack in the

-corner an' go to sleep. Well, one day when the shaft was down about

-eight foot, the rock got so hard that we had to put in a blast--the

-first blast'n' we'd ever done since Tom Quartz was born. An' then we lit

-the fuse 'n' clumb out 'n' got off 'bout fifty yards--'n' forgot 'n'

-left Tom Quartz sound asleep on the gunny-sack. In 'bout a minute we

-seen a puff of smoke bust up out of the hole, 'n' then everything let go

-with an awful crash, 'n' about four million ton of rocks 'n' dirt 'n'

-smoke 'n' splinters shot up 'bout a mile an' a half into the air, an' by

-George, right in the dead centre of it was old Tom Quartz a-goin' end

-over end, an' a-snortin' an' a-sneez'n, an' a-clawin' an' a-reach'n' for

-things like all possessed. But it warn't no use, you know, it warn't no

-use. An' that was the last we see of _him_ for about two minutes 'n' a

-half, an' then all of a sudden it begin to rain rocks and rubbage an'

-directly he come down ker-whoop about ten foot off f'm where we stood.

-Well, I reckon he was p'raps the orneriest-lookin' beast you ever see.

-One ear was sot back on his neck, 'n' his tail was stove up, 'n' his

-eye-winkers was singed off, 'n' he was all blacked up with powder an'

-smoke, an' all sloppy with mud 'n' slush f'm one end to the other. Well,

-sir, it warn't no use to try to apologize--we couldn't say a word. He

-took a sort of a disgusted look at hisself, 'n' then he looked at

-us--an' it was just exactly the same as if he had said--'Gents, maybe

-_you_ think it's smart to take advantage of a cat that ain't had no

-experience of quartz-minin', but _I_ think _different_'--an' then he

-turned on his heel 'n' marched off home without ever saying another

-word.

-

-"That was jest his style. An' maybe you won't believe it, but after that

-you never see a cat so prejudiced agin quartz-mining as what he was. An'

-by an' by when he _did_ get to goin' down in the shaft ag'in, you'd 'a'

-been astonished at his sagacity. The minute we'd tetch off a blast 'n'

-the fuse'd begin to sizzle, he'd give a look as much as to say, 'Well,

-I'll have to git you to excuse _me_,' an' it was supris'n' the way he'd

-shin out of that hole 'n' go f'r a tree. Sagacity? It ain't no name for

-it. 'Twas _inspiration_!"

-

-I said, "Well, Mr. Baker, his prejudice against quartz-mining _was_

-remarkable, considering how he came by it. Couldn't you ever cure him of

-it?"

-

-"_Cure him!_ No! When Tom Quartz was sot once, he was _always_ sot--and

-you might 'a' blowed him up as much as three million times 'n' you'd

-never 'a' broken him of his cussed prejudice ag'in quartz-mining."

-

-                                                       MARK TWAIN.

-

-

-

-

-THE BLACK CAT

-

-

-For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I

-neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it in

-a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet mad am I

-not--and very surely do I not dream. But tomorrow I die, and today I

-would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the

-world plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere

-household events. In their consequences these events have

-terrified--have tortured--have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to

-expound them. To me they presented little but horror--to many they will

-seem less terrible than _baroques_. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect

-may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the commonplace--some

-intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own,

-which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing

-more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

-

-From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my

-disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make

-me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was

-indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent

-most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing

-them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my

-manhood I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To

-those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog,

-I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the

-intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the

-unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute which goes directly to

-the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry

-friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere _Man_.

-

-I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not

-uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she

-lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We

-had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and _a cat_.

-

-This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black,

-and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence,

-my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made

-frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion which regarded all black

-cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever _serious_ upon this

-point, and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it

-happens just now to be remembered.

-

-Pluto--this was the cat's name--was my favourite pet and playmate. I

-alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It

-was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me

-through the streets.

-

-Our friendship lasted in this manner for several years, during which my

-general temperament and character--through the instrumentality of the

-Fiend Intemperance--had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical

-alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more

-irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself

-to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her

-personal violence. My pets of course were made to feel the change in my

-disposition. I not only neglected but ill-used them. For Pluto, however,

-I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him,

-as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the

-dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my

-disease grew upon me--for what disease is like Alcohol!--and at length

-even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat

-peevish--even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill-temper.

-

-One night, returning home much intoxicated from one of my haunts about

-town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him, when, in

-his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with

-his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no

-longer. My original soul seemed at once to take its flight from my body,

-and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber

-of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it,

-grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its

-eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the

-damnable atrocity.

-

-When reason returned with the morning--when I had slept off the fumes of

-the night's debauch--I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of

-remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty, but it was at best a

-feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again

-plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

-

-In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye

-presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared

-to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be

-expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old

-heart left as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part

-of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave

-place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable

-overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes

-no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives than I am that

-perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart--one of

-the indivisible primary faculties or sentiments which gave direction to

-the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself

-committing a vile or a silly action for no other reason than because he

-knows he should _not_? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth

-of our best judgment, to violate that which is _Law_, merely because we

-understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my

-final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to _vex

-itself_--to offer violence to its own nature--to do wrong for the

-wrong's sake only--that urged me to continue and finally to consummate

-the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in

-cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of

-a tree; hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the

-bitterest remorse at my heart; hung it _because_ I knew it had loved me,

-and _because_ I felt it had given me no reason of offence; hung it

-_because_ I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin--a deadly sin

-that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it, if such a

-thing were possible, even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the

-Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

-

-On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused

-from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames.

-The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife,

-a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The

-destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and

-I resigned myself forward to despair.

-

-I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and

-effect between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain

-of facts, and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the

-day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls with one

-exception had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall,

-not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against

-which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here in great

-measure resisted the action of the fire, a fact which I attributed to

-its having recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were

-collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion

-of it with very minute and eager attention. The words "Strange!"

-"Singular!" and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I

-approached and saw, as if graven in _bas relief_ upon the white surface

-the figure of a gigantic _cat_. The impression was given with an

-accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal's neck.

-

-When I first beheld this apparition--for I could scarcely regard it as

-less--my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection

-came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden

-adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire this garden had been

-immediately filled by the crowd, by some one of whom the animal must

-have been cut from the tree and thrown through an open window into my

-chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from

-sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my

-cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of

-which, with the flames and the _ammonia_ from the carcass, had then

-accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.

-

-Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my

-conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less

-fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid

-myself of the phantasm of the cat, and during this period there came

-back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse.

-I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me

-among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented for another pet

-of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to

-supply its place.

-

-One night, as I sat half-stupefied in a den of more than infamy, my

-attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the

-head of one of the immense hogsheads of gin or of rum, which constituted

-the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the

-top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise

-was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I

-approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat--a very

-large one--fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every

-respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his

-body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white,

-covering nearly the whole region of the breast.

-

-Upon my touching him he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against

-my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very

-creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of

-the landlord; but this person made no claim to it--knew nothing of

-it--had never seen it before.

-

-I continued my caresses, and when I prepared to go home the animal

-evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so,

-occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the

-house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great

-favourite with my wife.

-

-For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This

-was just the reverse of what I had anticipated, but--I know not how or

-why it was--its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and

-annoyed. By slow degrees these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose

-into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense

-of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing

-me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike or

-otherwise violently ill-use it, but gradually--very gradually--I came to

-look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its

-odious presence as from the breath of a pestilence.

-

-What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast was the discovery, on

-the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been

-deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared

-it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed in a high degree

-that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait,

-and the source of my simplest and purest pleasures.

-

-With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed

-to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would

-be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would

-crouch beneath my chair or spring upon my knees, covering me with its

-loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and

-thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my

-dress, clamber in this manner to my breast. At such times, although I

-longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing,

-partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly--let me confess it at

-once--by absolute _dread_ of the beast.

-

-This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil--and yet I should be

-at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own--yes,

-even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own--that the terror

-and horror with which the animal inspired me had been heightened by one

-of the merest chimeras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had

-called my attention more than once to the character of the mark of white

-hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole visible

-difference between the strange beast and the one I had destroyed. The

-reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally

-very indefinite, but by slow degrees--degrees nearly imperceptible, and

-which for a long time my reason struggled to reject as fanciful--it had

-at length assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the

-representation of an object that I shudder to name--and for this above

-all I loathed and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster _had

-I dared_--it was now, I say, the image of a hideous--of a ghastly

-thing--of the GALLOWS!--O, mournful and terrible engine of horror and of

-crime--of agony and of death!

-

-And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere humanity.

-And _a brute beast_--whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed--_a

-brute beast_ to work out for _me_--for me a man, fashioned in the image

-of the High God--so much of insufferable woe! Alas! neither by day nor

-by night knew I the blessing of rest any more! During the former the

-creature left me no moment alone; and in the latter I started hourly

-from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of _the thing_

-upon my face, and its vast weight--an incarnate nightmare that I had no

-power to shake off--incumbent eternally upon my _heart_!

-

-Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of

-the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole

-intimates--the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my

-usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while

-from the sudden frequent and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I

-now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most

-usual and the most patient of sufferers.

-

-One day she accompanied me upon some household errand into the cellar of

-the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat

-followed me down the steep stairs, and nearly throwing me headlong,

-exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an ax, and forgetting in my wrath

-the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at

-the animal, which of course would have proved instantly fatal had it

-descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my

-wife. Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I

-withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the ax in her brain. She fell

-dead upon the spot without a groan.

-

-This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith and with entire

-deliberation to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not

-remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of

-being observed by the neighbours. Many projects entered my mind. At one

-period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments and

-destroying them by fire. At another I resolved to dig a grave for it in

-the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the

-well in the yard--about packing it in a box, as if merchandise, with the

-usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house.

-Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either

-of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar--as the monks of the

-middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.

-

-For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were

-loosely constructed and had lately been plastered throughout with a

-rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from

-hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection caused by a

-false chimney or fireplace, that had been filled up and made to resemble

-the rest of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace

-the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as

-before, so that no eye could detect anything suspicious.

-

-And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crowbar I

-easily dislodged the bricks, and having carefully deposited the body

-against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while with little

-trouble I relaid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having

-procured mortar, sand, and hair with every possible precaution, I

-prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and

-with this I very carefully went over the new brick-work. When I had

-finished I felt satisfied that all was all right. The wall did not

-present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish

-on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around

-triumphantly, and said to myself--"Here at last, then, my labour has not

-been in vain."

-

-My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so

-much wretchedness, for I had at length firmly resolved to put it to

-death. Had I been able to meet with it at the moment there could have

-been no doubt of its fate, but it appeared that the crafty animal had

-been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forbore to

-present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe or to

-imagine the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the

-detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance

-during the night--and thus for one night at least since its introduction

-into the house I soundly and tranquilly slept, aye, _slept_ even with

-the burden of murder upon my soul!

-

-The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not.

-Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the

-premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme!

-The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries

-had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had

-been instituted--but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked

-upon my future felicity as secured.

-

-Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came

-very unexpectedly into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous

-investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of

-my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers

-bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner

-unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time they descended into

-the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of

-one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I

-folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police

-were thoroughly satisfied, and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart

-was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word by way

-of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my

-guiltlessness.

-

-"Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight

-to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little

-more courtesy. By the by, gentlemen, this--this is a very

-well-constructed house," [In the rabid desire to say something easily, I

-scarcely knew what I uttered at all,] "I may say an _excellently_

-well-constructed house. These walls--are you going, gentlemen?--these

-walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere frenzy of

-bravado, I rapped heavily with a cane which I held in my hand upon that

-very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife

-of my bosom.

-

-But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the arch-fiend! No

-sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence than I was

-answered by a voice from within the tomb!--by a cry, at first muffled

-and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into

-one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman--a

-howl--a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as

-might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the

-damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

-

-Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the

-opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained

-motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next a dozen

-stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already

-greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of

-the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye

-of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder,

-and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled

-the monster up within the tomb.

-

-                                                        EDGAR ALLAN POE.

-

-

-

-

-MADAME JOLICOEUR'S CAT

-

-

-Being somewhat of an age, and a widow of dignity--the late Monsieur

-Jolicoeur has held the responsible position under Government of

-Ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées--yet being also of a provocatively

-fresh plumpness, and a Marseillaise, it was of necessity that Madame

-Veuve Jolicoeur, on being left lonely in the world save for the

-companionship of her adored Shah de Perse, should entertain expectations

-of the future that were antipodal and antagonistic: on the one hand, of

-an austere life suitable to a widow of a reasonable maturity and of an

-assured position; on the other hand, of a life, not austere, suitable to

-a widow still of a provocatively fresh plumpness and by birth a

-Marseillaise.

-

-Had Madame Jolicoeur possessed a severe temperament and a resolute

-mind--possessions inherently improbable, in view of her birthplace--she

-would have made her choice between these equally possible futures with a

-promptness and with a finality that would have left nothing at loose

-ends. So endowed, she would have emphasized her not excessive age by a

-slightly excessive gravity of dress and of deportment; and would have

-adorned it, and her dignified widowhood, by becoming dévote: and

-thereafter, clinging with a modest ostentation only to her piety, would

-have radiated, as time made its marches, an always increasingly

-exemplary grace. But as Madame Jolicoeur did not possess a

-temperament that even bordered on severity, and as her mind was a sort

-that made itself up in at least twenty different directions in a single

-moment--as she was, in short, an entirely typical and therefore an

-entirely delightful Provençale--the situation was so much too much for

-her that, by the process of formulating a great variety of

-irreconcilable conclusions, she left everything at loose ends by not

-making any choice at all.

-

-In effect, she simply stood attendant upon what the future had in store

-for her: and meanwhile avowedly clung only, in default of piety, to her

-adored Shah de Perse--to whom was given, as she declared in disconsolate

-negligence of her still provocatively fresh plumpness, all of the

-bestowable affection that remained in the devastated recesses of her

-withered heart.

-

-To preclude any possibility of compromising misunderstanding, it is but

-just to Madame Jolicoeur to explain at once that the personage thus in

-receipt of the contingent remainder of her blighted affections--far from

-being, as his name would suggest, an Oriental potentate temporarily

-domiciled in Marseille to whom she had taken something more than a

-passing fancy--was a Persian superb black cat; and a cat of such rare

-excellencies of character and of acquirements as fully to deserve all of

-the affection that any heart of the right sort--withered, or

-otherwise--was disposed to bestow upon him.

-

-Cats of his perfect beauty, of his perfect grace, possibly might be

-found, Madame Jolicoeur grudgingly admitted, in the Persian royal

-catteries; but nowhere else in the Orient, and nowhere at all in the

-Occident, she declared with an energetic conviction, possibly could

-there be found a cat who even approached him in intellectual

-development, in wealth of interesting accomplishments, and, above all,

-in natural sweetness of disposition--a sweetness so marked that even

-under extreme provocation he never had been known to thrust out an angry

-paw. This is not to say that the Shah de Perse was a characterless cat,

-a lymphatic nonentity. On occasion--usually in connection with food that

-was distasteful to him--he could have his resentments; but they were

-manifested always with a dignified restraint. His nearest approach to

-ill-mannered abruptness was to bat with a contemptuous paw the offending

-morsel from his plate; which brusque act he followed by fixing upon the

-bestower of unworthy food a coldly, but always politely, contemptuous

-stare. Ordinarily, however, his displeasure--in the matter of unsuitable

-food, or in other matters--was exhibited by no more overt action than

-his retirement to a corner--he had his choices in corners, governed by

-the intensity of his feelings--and there seating himself with his back

-turned scornfully to an offending world. Even in his kindliest corner,

-on such occasions, the expression of his scornful back was as a whole

-volume of wingéd words!

-

-But the rare little cat tantrums of the Shah de Perse--if to his so

-gentle excesses may be applied so strong a term--were but as sun-spots

-on the effulgence of his otherwise constant amiability. His regnant

-desires, by which his worthy little life was governed, were to love and

-to please. He was the most cuddlesome cat, Madame Jolicoeur

-unhesitatingly asserted, that ever had lived; and he had a purr--softly

-thunderous and winningly affectionate--that was in keeping with his

-cuddlesome ways. When, of his own volition, he would jump into her

-abundant lap and go to burrowing with his little soft round head beneath

-her soft round elbows, the while gurglingly purring forth his love for

-her, Madame Jolicoeur, quite justifiably, at times was moved to tears.

-Equally was his sweet nature exhibited in his always eager willingness

-to show off his little train of cat accomplishments. He would give his

-paw with a courteous grace to any lady or gentleman--he drew the caste

-line rigidly--who asked for it. For his mistress, he would spring to a

-considerable height and clutch with his two soft paws--never by any

-mistake scratching--her outstretched wrist, and so would remain

-suspended while he delicately nibbled from between her fingers her

-edible offering. For her, he would make an almost painfully real

-pretence of being a dead cat: extending himself upon the rug with an

-exaggeratedly death-like rigidity--and so remaining until her command to

-be alive again brought him briskly to rub himself, rising on his hind

-legs and purring mellowly, against her comfortable knees.

-

-All of these interesting tricks, with various others that may be passed

-over, he would perform with a lively zest whenever set at them by a mere

-word of prompting; but his most notable trick was a game in which he

-engaged with his mistress not at word of command, but--such was his

-intelligence--simply upon her setting the signal for it. The signal was

-a close-fitting white cap--to be quite frank, a night-cap--that she

-tied upon her head when it was desired that the game should be played.

-

-It was of the game that Madame Jolicoeur should assume her cap with an

-air of detachment and aloofness: as though no such entity as the Shah de

-Perse existed, and with an insisted-upon disregard of the fact that he

-was watching her alertly with his great golden eyes. Equally was it of

-the game that the Shah de Perse should affect--save for his alert

-watching--a like disregard of the doings of Madame Jolicoeur: usually

-by an ostentatious pretence of washing his upraised hind leg, or by a

-like pretence of scrubbing his ears. These conventions duly having been

-observed, Madame Jolicoeur would seat herself in her especial

-easy-chair, above the relatively high back of which her night-capped

-head a little rose. Being so seated, always with the air of aloofness

-and detachment, she would take a book from the table and make a show of

-becoming absorbed in its contents. Matters being thus advanced, the Shah

-de Perse would make a show of becoming absorbed in searchings for an

-imaginary mouse--but so would conduct his fictitious quest for that

-supposititious animal as eventually to achieve for himself a strategic

-position close behind Madame Jolicoeur's chair. Then, dramatically,

-the pleasing end of the game would come: as the Shah de Perse--leaping

-with the distinguishing grace and lightness of his Persian race--would

-flash upward and "surprise" Madame Jolicoeur by crowning her

-white-capped head with his small black person, all a-shake with

-triumphant purrs! It was a charming little comedy--and so well

-understood by the Shah de Perse that he never ventured to essay it

-under other, and more intimate, conditions of night-cap use; even as he

-never failed to engage in it with spirit when his white lure properly

-was set for him above the back of Madame Jolicoeur's chair. It was as

-though to the Shah de Perse the white night-cap of Madame Jolicoeur,

-displayed in accordance with the rules of the game, were an oriflamme:

-akin to, but in minor points differing from, the helmet of Navarre.

-

-Being such a cat, it will be perceived that Madame Jolicoeur had

-reason in her avowed intention to bestow upon him all of the bestowable

-affection remnant in her withered heart's devastated recesses; and,

-equally, that she would not be wholly desolate, having such a cat to

-comfort her, while standing impartially attendant upon the decrees of

-fate.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-To assert that any woman not conspicuously old and quite conspicuously

-of a fresh plumpness could be left in any city isolate, save for a cat's

-company, while the fates were spinning new threads for her, would be to

-put a severe strain upon credulity. To make that assertion specifically

-of Madame Jolicoeur, and specifically--of all cities in the world!--of

-Marseille, would be to strain credulity fairly to the breaking point. On

-the other hand, to assert that Madame Jolicoeur, in defence of her

-isolation, was disposed to plant machine-guns in the doorway of her

-dwelling--a house of modest elegance on the Pavé d'Amour, at the

-crossing of the Rue Bausset--would be to go too far. Nor indeed--aside

-from the fact that the presence of such engines of destruction would

-not have been tolerated by the other residents of the quietly

-respectable Pavé d'Amour--was Madame Jolicoeur herself, as has been

-intimated, temperamentally inclined to go to such lengths as

-machine-guns in maintenance of her somewhat waveringly desired privacy

-in a merely cat-enlivened solitude.

-

-Between these widely separated extremes of conjectural possibility lay

-the mediate truth of the matter: which truth--thus resembling precious

-gold in its valueless rock matrix--lay embedded in, and was to be

-extracted from, the irresponsible utterances of the double row of

-loosely hung tongues, always at hot wagging, ranged along the two sides

-of the Rue Bausset.

-

-Madame Jouval, a milliner of repute--delivering herself with the

-generosity due to a good customer from whom an order for a trousseau was

-a not unremote possibility, yet with the acumen perfected by her

-professional experiences--summed her views of the situation, in talk

-with Madame Vic, proprietor of the Vic bakery, in these words: "It is of

-the convenances, and equally is it of her own melancholy necessities,

-that this poor Madame retires for a season to sorrow in a suitable

-seclusion in the company of her sympathetic cat. Only in such retreat

-can she give vent fitly to her desolating grief. But after storm comes

-sunshine: and I am happily assured by her less despairing appearance,

-and by the new mourning that I have been making for her, that even now,

-from the bottomless depth of her affliction, she looks beyond the

-storm."

-

-"I well believe it!" snapped Madame Vic. "That the appearance of Madame

-Jolicoeur at any time has been despairing is a matter that has

-escaped my notice. As to the mourning that she now wears, it is a

-defiance of all propriety. Why, with no more than that of colour in her

-frock"--Madame Vic upheld her thumb and finger infinitesimally

-separated--"and with a mere pin-point of a flower in her bonnet, she

-would be fit for the opera!"

-

-Madame Vic spoke with a caustic bitterness that had its roots. Her own

-venture in second marriage had been catastrophic--so catastrophic that

-her neglected bakery had gone very much to the bad. Still more closely

-to the point, Madame Jolicoeur--incident to finding entomologic

-specimens misplaced in her breakfast-rolls--had taken the leading part

-in an interchange of incivilities with the bakery's proprietor, and had

-withdrawn from it her custom.

-

-"And even were her mournings not a flouting of her short year of

-widowhood," continued Madame Vic, with an acrimony that abbreviated the

-term of widowhood most unfairly--"the scores of eligible suitors who

-openly come streaming to her door, and are welcomed there, are as

-trumpets proclaiming her audacious intentions and her indecorous

-desires. Even Monsieur Brisson is in that outrageous procession! Is it

-not enough that she should entice a repulsively bald-headed notary and

-an old rake of a major to make their brazen advances, without suffering

-this anatomy of a pharmacien to come treading on their heels?--he with

-his hands imbrued in the life-blood of the unhappy old woman whom his

-mismade prescription sent in agony to the tomb! Pah! I have no patience

-with her! She and her grief and her seclusion and her sympathetic cat,

-indeed! It all is a tragedy of indiscretion--that shapes itself as a

-revolting farce!"

-

-It will be observed that Madame Vic, in framing her bill of particulars,

-practically reduced her alleged scores of Madame Jolicoeur's suitors

-to precisely two--since the bad third was handicapped so heavily by that

-notorious matter of the mismade prescription as to be a negligible

-quantity, quite out of the race. Indeed, it was only the preposterous

-temerity of Monsieur Brisson--despairingly clutching at any chance to

-retrieve his broken fortunes--that put him in the running at all. With

-the others, in such slighting terms referred to by Madame Vic--Monsieur

-Peloux, a notary of standing, and the Major Gontard, of the Twenty-ninth

-of the Line--the case was different. It had its sides.

-

-"That this worthy lady reasonably may desire again to wed," declared

-Monsieur Fromagin, actual proprietor of the Épicerie Russe--an

-establishment liberally patronized by Madame Jolicoeur--"is as true as

-that when she goes to make her choosings between these estimable

-gentlemen she cannot make a choice that is wrong."

-

-Madame Gauthier, a clear-starcher of position, to whom Monsieur Fromagin

-thus addressed himself, was less broadly positive. "That is a matter of

-opinion," she answered; and added: "To go no further than the very

-beginning, Monsieur should perceive that her choice has exactly fifty

-chances in the hundred of going wrong: lying, as it does, between a

-meagre, sallow-faced creature of a death-white baldness, and a fine big

-pattern of a man, strong and ruddy, with a close-clipped but abundant

-thatch on his head, and a moustache that admittedly is superb!"

-

-"Ah, there speaks the woman!" said Monsieur Fromagin, with a patronizing

-smile distinctly irritating. "Madame will recognize--if she will but

-bring herself to look a little beyond the mere outside--that what I have

-advanced is not a matter of opinion but of fact. Observe: Here is

-Monsieur Peloux--to whose trifling leanness and aristocratic baldness

-the thoughtful give no attention--easily a notary in the very first

-rank. As we all know, his services are sought in cases of the most

-exigent importance--"

-

-"For example," interrupted Madame Gauthier, "the case of the insurance

-solicitor, in whose countless defraudings my own brother was a sufferer:

-a creature of a vileness, whose deserts were unnumbered ages of

-dungeons--and who, thanks to the chicaneries of Monsieur Peloux, at this

-moment walks free as air!"

-

-"It is of the professional duty of advocates," replied Monsieur

-Fromagin, sententiously, "to defend their clients; on the successful

-discharge of that duty--irrespective of minor details--depends their

-fame. Madame neglects the fact that Monsieur Peloux, by his masterly

-conduct of the case that she specifies, won for himself from his legal

-colleagues an immense applause."

-

-"The more shame to his legal colleagues!" commented Madame Gauthier

-curtly.

-

-"But leaving that affair quite aside," continued Monsieur Fromagin

-airily, but with insistence, "here is this notable advocate who reposes

-his important homages at Madame Jolicoeur's feet: he a man of an age

-that is suitable, without being excessive; who has in the community an

-assured position; whose more than moderate wealth is known. I insist,

-therefore, that should she accept his homages she would do well."

-

-"And I insist," declared Madame Gauthier stoutly, "that should she turn

-her back upon the Major Gontard she would do most ill!"

-

-"Madame a little disregards my premises," Monsieur Fromagin spoke in a

-tone of forbearance, "and therefore a little argues--it is the privilege

-of her sex--against the air. Distinctly, I do not exclude from Madame

-Jolicoeur's choice that gallant Major: whose rank--now approaching him

-to the command of a regiment, and fairly equalling the position at the

-bar achieved by Monsieur Peloux--has been won, grade by grade, by deeds

-of valour in his African campaignings which have made him conspicuous

-even in the army that stands first in such matters of all the armies of

-the world. Moreover--although, admittedly, in that way Monsieur Peloux

-makes a better showing--he is of an easy affluence. On the Camargue he

-has his excellent estate in vines, from which comes a revenue more than

-sufficing to satisfy more than modest wants. At Les Martigues he has his

-charming coquette villa, smothered in the flowers of his own planting,

-to which at present he makes his agreeable escapes from his military

-duties; and in which, when his retreat is taken, he will pass softly his

-sunset years. With these substantial points in his favour, the standing

-of the Major Gontard in this matter practically is of a parity with the

-standing of Monsieur Peloux. Equally, both are worthy of Madame

-Jolicoeur's consideration: both being able to continue her in the life

-of elegant comfort to which she is accustomed; and both being on a

-social plane--it is of her level accurately--to which the widow of an

-ingénieur des ponts et chaussées neither steps up nor steps down. Having

-now made clear, I trust, my reasonings, I repeat the proposition with

-which Madame took issue: When Madame Jolicoeur goes to make her

-choosings between these estimable gentlemen she cannot make a choice

-that is wrong."

-

-"And I repeat, Monsieur," said Madame Gauthier, lifting her basket from

-the counter, "that in making her choosings Madame Jolicoeur either

-goes to raise herself to the heights of a matured happiness, or to

-plunge herself into bald-headed abysses of despair. Yes, Monsieur, that

-far apart are her choosings!" And Madame Gauthier added, in communion

-with herself as she passed to the street with her basket: "As for me, it

-would be that adorable Major by a thousand times!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As was of reason, since hers was the first place in the matter, Madame

-Jolicoeur herself carried on debatings--in the portion of her heart

-that had escaped complete devastation--identical in essence with the

-debatings of her case which went up and down the Rue Bausset.

-

-Not having become dévote--in the year and more of opportunity open to

-her for a turn in that direction--one horn of her original dilemma had

-been eliminated, so to say, by atrophy. Being neglected, it had

-withered: with the practical result that out of her very indecisions had

-come a decisive choice. But to her new dilemma, of which the horns were

-the Major and the Notary--in the privacy of her secret thoughts she made

-no bones of admitting that this dilemma confronted her--the atrophying

-process was not applicable; at least, not until it could be applied with

-a sharp finality. Too long dallied with, it very well might lead to the

-atrophy of both of them in dudgeon; and thence onward, conceivably, to

-her being left to cling only to the Shah de Perse for all the remainder

-of her days.

-

-Therefore, to the avoidance of that too radical conclusion, Madame

-Jolicoeur engaged in her debatings briskly: offering to herself, in

-effect, the balanced arguments advanced by Monsieur Fromagin in favour

-equally of Monsieur Peloux and of the Major Gontard; taking as her own,

-with moderating exceptions and emendations, the views of Madame Gauthier

-as to the meagreness and pallid baldness of the one and the sturdiness

-and gallant bearing of the other; considering, from the standpoint of

-her own personal knowledge in the premises, the Notary's disposition

-toward a secretive reticence that bordered upon severity, in contrast

-with the cordially frank and debonair temperament of the Major; and, at

-the back of all, keeping well in mind the fundamental truths that

-opportunity ever is evanescent and that time ever is on the wing.

-

-As the result of her debatings, and not less as the result of experience

-gained in her earlier campaigning, Madame Jolicoeur took up a

-strategic position nicely calculated to inflame the desire for, by

-assuming the uselessness of, an assault. In set terms, confirming

-particularly her earlier and more general avowal, she declared equally

-to the Major and to the Notary that absolutely the whole of her

-bestowable affection--of the remnant in her withered heart available for

-distribution--was bestowed upon the Shah de Perse: and so, with an

-alluring nonchalance, left them to draw the logical conclusion that

-their strivings to win that desirable quantity were idle--since a

-definite disposition of it already had been made.

-

-The reply of the Major Gontard to this declaration was in keeping with

-his known amiability, but also was in keeping with his military habit of

-command. "Assuredly," he said, "Madame shall continue to bestow, within

-reason, her affections upon Monsieur le Shah; and with them that brave

-animal--he is a cat of ten thousand--shall have my affections as well.

-Already, knowing my feeling for him, we are friends--as Madame shall see

-to her own convincing." Addressing himself in tones of kindly persuasion

-to the Shah de Perse, he added: "Viens, Monsieur!"--whereupon the Shah

-de Perse instantly jumped himself to the Major's knee and broke forth,

-in response to a savant rubbing of his soft little jowls, into his

-gurgling purr. "Voilà, Madame!" continued the Major. "It is to be

-perceived that we have our good understandings, the Shah de Perse and I.

-That we all shall live happily together tells itself without words. But

-observe"--of a sudden the voice of the Major thrilled with a deep

-earnestness, and his style of address changed to a familiarity that only

-the intensity of his feeling condoned--"I am resolved that to me, above

-all, shall be given thy dear affections. Thou shalt give me the perfect

-flower of them--of that fact rest thou assured. In thy heart I am to be

-the very first--even as in my heart thou thyself art the very first of

-all the world. In Africa I have had my successes in my conquests and

-holdings of fortresses. Believe me, I shall have an equal success in

-conquering and in holding the sweetest fortress in France!"

-

-Certainly, the Major Gontard had a bold way with him. But that it had

-its attractions, not to say its compellings, Madame Jolicoeur could

-not honestly deny.

-

-On the part of the Notary--whose disposition, fostered by his

-profession, was toward subtlety rather than toward boldness--Madame

-Jolicoeur's declaration of cat rights was received with no such

-belligerent blare of trumpets and beat of drums. He met it with a light

-show of banter--beneath which, to come to the surface later, lay hidden

-dark thoughts.

-

-"Madame makes an excellent pleasantry," he said with a smile of the

-blandest. "Without doubt, not a very flattering pleasantry--but I know

-that her denial of me in favour of her cat is but a jesting at which we

-both may laugh. And we may laugh together the better because, in the

-roots of her jesting, we have our sympathies. I also have an intensity

-of affection for cats"--to be just to Monsieur Peloux, who loathed cats,

-it must be said that he gulped as he made this flagrantly untruthful

-statement--"and with this admirable cat, so dear to Madame, it goes to

-make itself that we speedily become enduring friends."

-

-Curiously enough--a mere coincidence, of course--as the Notary uttered

-these words so sharply at points with veracity, in the very moment of

-them, the Shah de Perse stiffly retired into his sulkiest corner and

-turned what had every appearance of being a scornful back upon the

-world.

-

-Judiciously ignoring this inopportunely equivocal incident, Monsieur

-Peloux reverted to the matter in chief and concluded his deliverance in

-these words: "I well understand, I repeat, that Madame for the moment

-makes a comedy of herself and of her cat for my amusing. But I persuade

-myself that her droll fancyings will not be lasting, and that she will

-be serious with me in the end. Until then--and then most of all--I am at

-her feet humbly: an unworthy, but a very earnest, suppliant for her

-good-will. Should she have the cruelty to refuse my supplication, it

-will remain with me to die in an unmerited despair!"

-

-Certainly, this was an appeal--of a sort. But even without perceiving

-the mitigating subtlety of its comminative final clause--so skilfully

-worded as to leave Monsieur Peloux free to bring off his threatened

-unmeritedly despairing death quite at his own convenience--Madame

-Jolicoeur did not find it satisfying. In contrast with the Major

-Gontard's ringingly audacious declarations of his habits in dealing with

-fortresses, she felt that it lacked force. And, also--this, of course,

-was a sheer weakness--she permitted herself to be influenced appreciably

-by the indicated preferences of the Shah de Perse: who had jumped to the

-knee of the Major with an affectionate alacrity; and who undeniably had

-turned on the Notary--either by chance or by intention--a back of scorn.

-

-As the general outcome of these several developments, Madame

-Jolicoeur's debatings came to have in them--if I so may state the

-trend of her mental activities--fewer bald heads and more moustaches;

-and her never severely set purpose to abide in a loneliness relieved

-only by the Shah de Perse was abandoned root and branch.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-While Madame Jolicoeur continued her debatings--which, in their

-modified form, manifestly were approaching her to conclusions--water was

-running under bridges elsewhere.

-

-In effect, her hesitancies produced a period of suspense that gave

-opportunity for, and by the exasperating delay of it stimulated, the

-resolution of the Notary's dark thoughts into darker deeds. With reason,

-he did not accept at its face value Madame Jolicoeur's declaration

-touching the permanent bestowal of her remnant affections; but he did

-believe that there was enough in it to make the Shah de Perse a delaying

-obstacle to his own acquisition of them. When obstacles got in this

-gentleman's way it was his habit to kick them out of it--a habit that

-had not been unduly stunted by half a lifetime of successful practice at

-the criminal bar.

-

-Because of his professional relations with them, Monsieur Peloux had an

-extensive acquaintance among criminals of varying shades of

-intensity--at times, in his dubious doings, they could be useful to

-him--hidden away in the shadowy nooks and corners of the city; and he

-also had his emissaries through whom they could be reached. All the

-conditions thus standing attendant upon his convenience, it was a facile

-matter for him to make an appointment with one of these disreputables

-at a cabaret of bad record in the Quartier de la Tourette: a

-region--bordering upon the north side of the Vieux Port--that is at once

-the oldest and the foulest quarter of Marseille.

-

-In going to keep this appointment--as was his habit on such occasions,

-in avoidance of possible spying upon his movements--he went deviously:

-taking a cab to the Bassin de Carènage, as though some maritime matter

-engaged him, and thence making the transit of the Vieux Port in a bateau

-mouche. It was while crossing in the ferryboat that a sudden shuddering

-beset him: as he perceived with horror--but without repentance--the pit

-into which he descended. In his previous, always professional, meetings

-with criminals his position had been that of unassailable dominance. In

-his pending meeting--since he himself would be not only a criminal but

-an inciter to crime--he would be, in the essence of the matter, the

-under dog. Beneath his seemly black hat his bald head went whiter than

-even its normal deathly whiteness, and perspiration started from its

-every pore. Almost with a groan, he removed his hat and dried with his

-handkerchief what were in a way his tears of shame.

-

-Over the interview between Monsieur Peloux and his hireling--cheerfully

-moistened, on the side of the hireling, with absinthe of a vileness in

-keeping with its place of purchase--decency demands the partial drawing

-of a veil. In brief, Monsieur Peloux--his guilty eyes averted, the

-shame-tears streaming afresh from his bald head--presented his criminal

-demand and stated the sum that he would pay for its gratification. This

-sum--being in keeping with his own estimate of what it paid for--was so

-much in excess of the hireling's views concerning the value of a mere

-cat-killing that he fairly jumped at it.

-

-"Be not disturbed, Monsieur!" he replied, with the fervour of one really

-grateful, and with the expansive extravagance of a Marseillais keyed up

-with exceptionally bad absinthe. "Be not disturbed in the smallest! In

-this very coming moment this camel of a cat shall die a thousand deaths;

-and in but another moment immeasurable quantities of salt and ashes

-shall obliterate his justly despicable grave! To an instant

-accomplishment of Monsieur's wishes I pledge whole-heartedly the word of

-an honest man."

-

-Actually--barring the number of deaths to be inflicted on the Shah de

-Perse, and the needlessly defiling concealment of his burial-place--this

-radical treatment of the matter was precisely what Monsieur Peloux

-desired; and what, in terms of innuendo and euphuism, he had asked for.

-But the brutal frankness of the hireling, and his evident delight in

-sinning for good wages, came as an arousing shock to the enfeebled

-remnant of the Notary's better nature--with a resulting vacillation of

-purpose to which he would have risen superior had he been longer

-habituated to the ways of crime.

-

-"No! No!" he said weakly. "I did not mean that--by no means all of that.

-At least--that is to say--you will understand me, my good man, that

-enough will be done if you remove the cat from Marseille. Yes, that is

-what I mean--take it somewhere. Take it to Cassis, to Arles, to

-Avignon--where you will--and leave it there. The railway ticket is my

-charge--and, also, you have an extra napoléon for your refreshment by

-the way. Yes, that suffices. In a bag, you know--and soon!"

-

-Returning across the Vieux Port in the bateau mouche, Monsieur Peloux no

-longer shuddered in dread of crime to be committed--his shuddering was

-for accomplished crime. On his bald head, unheeded, the gushing tears of

-shame accumulated in pools.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-When leaves of absence permitted him to make retirements to his coquette

-little estate at Les Martigues, the Major Gontard was as another

-Cincinnatus: with the minor differences that the lickerish cookings of

-the brave Marthe--his old femme de ménage: a veritable protagonist among

-cooks, even in Provence--checked him on the side of severe simplicity;

-that he would have welcomed with effusion lictors, or others, come to

-announce his advance to a regiment; and that he made no use whatever of

-a plow.

-

-In the matter of the plow, he had his excuses. His two or three acres of

-land lay on a hillside banked in tiny terraces--quite unsuited to the

-use of that implement--and the whole of his agricultural energies were

-given to the cultivation of flowers. Among his flowers, intelligently

-assisted by old Michel, he worked with a zeal bred of his affection for

-them; and after his workings, when the cool of evening was come, smoked

-his pipe refreshingly while seated on the vine-bowered estrade before

-his trim villa on the crest of the slope: the while sniffing with a just

-interest at the fumes of old Marthe's cookings, and placidly delighting

-in the ever-new beauties of the sunsets above the distant mountains and

-their near-by reflected beauties in the waters of the Étang de Berre.

-

-Save in his professional relations with recalcitrant inhabitants of

-Northern Africa, he was of a gentle nature, this amiable warrior: ever

-kindly, when kindliness was deserved, in all his dealings with mankind.

-Equally, his benevolence was extended to the lower orders of

-animals--that it was understood, and reciprocated, the willing jumping

-of the Shah de Perse to his friendly knee made manifest--and was

-exhibited in practical ways. Naturally, he was a liberal contributor to

-the funds of the Société protectrice des animaux; and, what was more to

-the purpose, it was his well-rooted habit to do such protecting as was

-necessary, on his own account, when he chanced upon any suffering

-creature in trouble or in pain.

-

-Possessing these commendable characteristics, it follows that the doings

-of the Major Gontard in the railway station at Pas de Lanciers--on the

-day sequent to the day on which Monsieur Peloux was the promoter of a

-criminal conspiracy--could not have been other than they were. Equally

-does it follow that his doings produced the doings of the man with the

-bag.

-

-Pas de Lanciers is the little station at which one changes trains in

-going from Marseille to Les Martigues. Descending from a first-class

-carriage, the Major Gontard awaited the Martigues train--his leave was

-for two days, and his thoughts were engaged pleasantly with the

-breakfast that old Marthe would have ready for him and with plans for

-his flowers. From a third-class carriage descended the man with the

-bag, who also awaited the Martigues train. Presently--the two happening

-to come together in their saunterings up and down the platform--the

-Major's interest was aroused by observing that within the bag went on a

-persistent wriggling; and his interest was quickened into characteristic

-action when he heard from its interior, faintly but quite distinctly, a

-very pitiful half-strangled little mew!

-

-"In another moment," said the Major, addressing the man sharply, "that

-cat will be suffocated. Open the bag instantly and give it air!"

-

-"Pardon, Monsieur," replied the man, starting guiltily. "This excellent

-cat is not suffocating. In the bag it breathes freely with all its

-lungs. It is a pet cat, having the habitude to travel in this manner;

-and, because it is of a friendly disposition, it is accustomed thus to

-make its cheerful little remarks." By way of comment upon this

-explanation, there came from the bag another half-strangled mew that was

-not at all suggestive of cheerfulness. It was a faint miserable

-mew--that told of cat despair!

-

-At that juncture a down train came in on the other side of the platform,

-a train on its way to Marseille.

-

-"Thou art a brute!" said the Major, tersely. "I shall not suffer thy

-cruelties to continue!" As he spoke, he snatched away the bag from its

-uneasy possessor and applied himself to untying its confining cord.

-Oppressed by the fear that goes with evil-doing, the man hesitated for a

-moment before attempting to retrieve what constructively was his

-property.

-

-In that fateful moment the bag opened and a woebegone little black

-cat-head appeared; and then the whole of a delighted little black

-cat-body emerged--and cuddled with joy-purrs of recognition in its

-deliverer's arms! Within the sequent instant the recognition was mutual.

-"Thunder of guns!" cried the Major. "It is the Shah de Perse!"

-

-Being thus caught red-handed, the hireling of Monsieur Peloux cowered.

-"Brigand!" continued the Major. "Thou hast ravished away this charming

-cat by the foulest of robberies. Thou art worse than the scum of Arab

-camp-followings. And if I had thee to myself, over there in the desert,"

-he added grimly, "thou shouldst go the same way!"

-

-All overawed by the Major's African attitude, the hireling took to

-whining. "Monsieur will believe me when I tell him that I am but an

-unhappy tool--I, an honest man whom a rich tempter, taking advantage of

-my unmerited poverty, has betrayed into crime. Monsieur himself shall

-judge me when I have told him all!" And then--with creditably

-imaginative variations on the theme of a hypothetical dying wife in

-combination with six supposititious starving children--the man came

-close enough to telling all to make clear that his backer in

-cat-stealing was Monsieur Peloux!

-

-With a gasp of astonishment, the Major again took the word. "What

-matters it, animal, by whom thy crime was prompted? Thou art the

-perpetrator of it--and to thee comes punishment! Shackles and prisons

-are in store for thee! I shall--"

-

-But what the Major Gontard had in mind to do toward assisting the march

-of retributive justice is immaterial--since he did not do it. Even as

-he spoke--in these terms of doom that qualifying conditions rendered

-doomless--the man suddenly dodged past him, bolted across the platform,

-jumped to the foot-board of a carriage of the just-starting train,

-cleverly bundled himself through an open window, and so was gone:

-leaving the Major standing lonely, with impotent rage filling his heart,

-and with the Shah de Perse all a purring cuddle in his arms!

-

-Acting on a just impulse, the Major Gontard sped to the telegraph

-office. Two hours must pass before he could follow the miscreant; but

-the departed train ran express to Marseille, and telegraphic heading-off

-was possible. To his flowers, and to the romance of a breakfast that old

-Marthe by then was in the very act of preparing for him, his thoughts

-went in bitter relinquishment: but his purpose was stern! Plumping the

-Shah de Perse down anyway on the telegraph table, and seizing a pen

-fiercely, he began his writings. And then, of a sudden, an inspiration

-came to him that made him stop in his writings--and that changed his

-flames of anger into flames of joy.

-

-His first act under the influence of this new and better emotion was to

-tear his half-finished dispatch into fragments. His second act was to

-assuage the needs, physical and psychical, of the Shah de Perse--near to

-collapse for lack of food and drink, and his little cat feelings hurt by

-his brusque deposition on the telegraph table--by carrying him tenderly

-to the buffet; and there--to the impolitely over-obvious amusement of

-the buffetière--purchasing cream without stint for the allaying of his

-famishings. To his feasting the Shah de Perse went with the avid energy

-begotten of his bag-compelled long fast. Dipping his little red tongue

-deep into the saucer, he lapped with a vigour that all cream-splattered

-his little black nose. Yet his admirable little cat manners were not

-forgotten: even in the very thick of his eager lappings--pathetically

-eager, in view of the cause of them--he purred forth gratefully, with a

-gurgling chokiness, his earnest little cat thanks.

-

-As the Major Gontard watched this pleasing spectacle his heart was all

-aglow within him and his face was of a radiance comparable only with

-that of an Easter-morning sun. To himself he was saying: "It is a dream

-that has come to me! With the disgraced enemy in retreat, and with the

-Shah de Perse for my banner, it is that I hold victoriously the whole

-universe in the hollow of my hand!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-While stopping appreciably short of claiming for himself a clutch upon

-the universe, Monsieur Peloux also had his satisfactions on the evening

-of the day that had witnessed the enlèvement of the Shah de Perse. By

-his own eyes he knew certainly that that iniquitous kidnapping of a

-virtuous cat had been effected. In the morning the hireling had brought

-to him in his private office the unfortunate Shah de Perse--all

-unhappily bagged, and even then giving vent to his pathetic

-complainings--and had exhibited him, as a pièce justificatif, when

-making his demand for railway fare and the promised extra napolèon. In

-the mid-afternoon the hireling had returned, with the satisfying

-announcement that all was accomplished: that he had carried the cat to

-Pas de Lanciers, of an adequate remoteness, and there had left him with

-a person in need of a cat who received him willingly. Being literally

-true, this statement had in it so convincing a ring of sincerity that

-Monsieur Peloux paid down in full the blood-money and dismissed his

-bravo with commendation. Thereafter, being alone, he rubbed his

-hands--gladly thinking of what was in the way to happen in sequence to

-the permanent removal of this cat stumbling-block from his path.

-Although professionally accustomed to consider the possibilities of

-permutation, the known fact that petards at times are retroactive did

-not present itself to his mind.

-

-And yet--being only an essayist in crime, still unhardened--certain

-compunctions beset him as he approached himself, on the to-be eventful

-evening of that eventful day, to the door of Madame Jolicoeur's

-modestly elegant dwelling on the Pavé d'Amour. In the back of his head

-were justly self-condemnatory thoughts, to the general effect that he

-was a blackguard and deserved to be kicked. In the dominant front of his

-head, however, were thoughts of a more agreeable sort: of how he would

-find Madame Jolicoeur all torn and rent by the bitter sorrow of her

-bereavement; of how he would pour into her harried heart a flood of

-sympathy by which that injured organ would be soothed and mollified; of

-how she would be lured along gently to requite his tender condolence

-with a softening gratitude--that presently would merge easily into the

-yet softer phrase of love! It was a well-made program, and it had its

-kernel of reason in his recognized ability to win bad causes--as that

-of the insurance solicitor--by emotional pleadings which in the same

-breath lured to lenience and made the intrinsic demerits of the cause

-obscure.

-

-"Madame dines," was the announcement that met Monsieur Peloux when, in

-response to his ring, Madame Jolicoeur's door was opened for him by a

-trim maid-servant. "But Madame already has continued so long her

-dining," added the maid-servant, with a glint in her eyes that escaped

-his preoccupied attention, "that in but another instant must come the

-end. If M'sieu' will have the amiability to await her in the salon, it

-will be for but a point of time!"

-

-Between this maid-servant and Monsieur Peloux no love was lost.

-Instinctively he was aware of, and resented, her views--practically

-identical with those expressed by Madame Gauthier to Monsieur

-Fromagin--touching his deserts as compared with the deserts of the Major

-Gontard. Moreover, she had personal incentives to take her revenges.

-From Monsieur Peloux, her only vail had been a miserable two-franc

-Christmas box. From the Major, as from a perpetually verdant

-Christmas-tree, boxes of bonbons and five-franc pieces at all times

-descended upon her in showers.

-

-Without perceiving the curious smile that accompanied this young

-person's curiously cordial invitation to enter, he accepted the

-invitation and was shown into the salon: where he seated himself--a

-left-handedness of which he would have been incapable had he been less

-perturbed--in Madame Jolicoeur's own special chair. An anatomical

-vagary of the Notary's meagre person was the undue shortness of his body

-and the undue length of his legs. Because of this eccentricity of

-proportion, his bald head rose above the back of the chair to a height

-approximately identical with that of its normal occupant.

-

-His waiting time--extending from its promised point to what seemed to

-him to be a whole geographical meridian--went slowly. To relieve it,

-he took a book from the table, and in a desultory manner turned the

-leaves. While thus perfunctorily engaged, he heard the clicking of an

-opening door, and then the sound of voices: of Madame Jolicoeur's

-voice, and of a man's voice--which latter, coming nearer, he recognized

-beyond all doubting as the voice of the Major Gontard. Of other voices

-there was not a sound: whence the compromising fact was obvious that

-the two had gone through that long dinner together, and alone! Knowing,

-as he did, Madame Jolicoeur's habitual disposition toward the

-convenances--willingly to be boiled in oil rather than in the smallest

-particular to abrade them--he perceived that only two explanations of

-the situation were possible: either she had lapsed of a sudden into

-madness; or--the thought was petrifying--the Major Gontard had won out

-in his French campaigning on his known conquering African lines. The

-cheerfully sane tone of the lady's voice forbade him to clutch at the

-poor solace to be found in the first alternative--and so forced him to

-accept the second. Yielding for a moment to his emotions, the

-death-whiteness of his bald head taking on a still deathlier pallor,

-Monsieur Peloux buried his face in his hands and groaned.

-

-In that moment of his obscured perception a little black personage

-trotted into the salon on soundless paws. Quite possibly, in his then

-overwrought condition, had Monsieur Peloux seen this personage enter he

-would have shrieked--in the confident belief that before him was a cat

-ghost! Pointedly, it was not a ghost. It was the happy little Shah de

-Perse himself--all a-frisk with the joy of his blessed home-coming and

-very much alive! Knowing, as I do, many of the mysterious ways of little

-cat souls, I even venture to believe that his overbubbling gladness

-largely was due to his sympathetic perception of the gladness that his

-home-coming had brought to two human hearts.

-

-Certainly, all through that long dinner the owners of those hearts had

-done their best, by their pettings and their pamperings of him, to make

-him a participant in their deep happiness; and he, gratefully

-respondent, had made his affectionate thankings by going through all of

-his repertory of tricks--with one exception--again and again. Naturally,

-his great trick, while unexhibited, repeatedly had been referred to.

-Blushing delightfully, Madame Jolicoeur had told about the night-cap

-that was a necessary part of it; and had promised--blushing still more

-delightfully--that at some time, in the very remote future, the Major

-should see it performed. For my own part, because of my knowledge of

-little cat souls, I am persuaded that the Shah de Perse, while missing

-the details of this love-laughing talk, did get into his head the

-general trend of it; and therefore did trot on in advance into the salon

-with his little cat mind full of the notion that Madame Jolicoeur

-immediately would follow him--to seat herself, duly night-capped, book

-in hand, in signal for their game of surprises to begin.

-

-Unconscious of the presence of the Shah de Perse, tortured by the gay

-tones of the approaching voices, clutching his book vengefully as though

-it were a throat, his bald head beaded with the sweat of agony and the

-pallor of it intensified by his poignant emotion, Monsieur Peloux sat

-rigid in Madame Jolicoeur's chair!

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"It is declared," said Monsieur Brisson, addressing himself to Madame

-Jouval, for whom he was in the act of preparing what was spoken of

-between them as "the tonic," a courteous euphuism, "that that villain

-Notary, aided by a bandit hired to his assistance, was engaged in

-administering poison to the cat; and that the brave animal, freeing

-itself from the bandit's holdings, tore to destruction the whole of his

-bald head--and then triumphantly escaped to its home!"

-

-"A sight to see is that head of his!" replied Madame Jouval. "So swathed

-is it in bandages, that the turban of the Grand Turk is less!" Madame

-Jouval spoke in tones of satisfaction that were of reason--already she

-had held conferences with Madame Jolicoeur in regard to the trousseau.

-

-"And all," continued Monsieur Brisson, with rancour, "because of his

-jealousies of the cat's place in Madame Jolicoeur's affections--the

-affections which he so hopelessly hoped, forgetful of his own

-repulsiveness, to win for himself!"

-

-"Ah, she has done well, that dear lady," said Madame Jouval warmly. "As

-between the Notary--repulsive, as Monsieur justly terms him--and the

-charming Major, her instincts rightly have directed her. To her worthy

-cat, who aided in her choosing, she has reason to be grateful. Now her

-cruelly wounded heart will find solace. That she should wed again, and

-happily, was Heaven's will."

-

-"It was the will of the baggage herself!" declared Monsieur Brisson with

-bitterness. "Hardly had she put on her travesty of a mourning than she

-began her oglings of whole armies of men!"

-

-Aside from having confected with her own hands the mourning to which

-Monsieur Brisson referred so disparagingly, Madame Jouval was not one to

-hear calmly the ascription of the term baggage--the word has not lost in

-its native French, as it has lost in its naturalized English, its

-original epithetical intensity--to a patroness from whom she was in the

-very article of receiving an order for an exceptionally rich trousseau.

-Naturally, she bristled. "Monsieur must admit at least," she said

-sharply, "that her oglings did not come in his direction;" and with an

-irritatingly smooth sweetness added: "As to the dealings of Monsieur

-Peloux with the cat, Monsieur doubtless speaks with an assured

-knowledge. Remembering, as we all do, the affair of the unhappy old

-woman, it is easy to perceive that to Monsieur, above all others, any

-one in need of poisonings would come!"

-

-The thrust was so keen that for the moment Monsieur Brisson met it only

-with a savage glare. Then the bottle that he handed to Madame Jouval

-inspired him with an answer. "Madame is in error," he said with

-politeness. "For poisons it is possible to go variously elsewhere--as,

-for example, to Madame's tongue." Had he stopped with that retort

-courteous, but also searching, he would have done well. He did ill by

-adding to it the retort brutal: "But that old women of necessity come to

-me for their hair-dyes is another matter. That much I grant to Madame

-with all good will."

-

-Admirably restraining herself, Madame Jouval replied in tones of

-sympathy: "Monsieur receives my commiserations in his misfortunes."

-Losing a large part of her restraint, she continued, her eyes

-glittering: "Yet Monsieur's temperament clearly is over-sanguine. It is

-not less than a miracle of absurdity that he imagined: that he, weighted

-down with his infamous murderings of scores of innocent old women, had

-even a chance the most meagre of realizing his ridiculous aspirations of

-Madame Jolicoeur's hand!" Snatching up her bottle and making for the

-door, without any restraint whatever she added: "Monsieur and his

-aspirations are a tragedy of stupidity--and equally are abounding in all

-the materials for a farce at the Palais de Cristal!"

-

-Monsieur Brisson was cut off from opportunity to reply to this outburst

-by Madame Jouval's abrupt departure. His loss of opportunity had its

-advantages. An adequate reply to her discharge of such a volley of home

-truths would have been difficult to frame.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In the Vic bakery, between Madame Vic and Monsieur Fromagin, a

-discussion was in hand akin to that carried on between Monsieur Brisson

-and Madame Jouval--but marked with a somewhat nearer approach to

-accuracy in detail. Being sequent to the settlement of Monsieur

-Fromagin's monthly bill--always a matter of nettling dispute--it

-naturally tended to develop its own asperities.

-

-"They say," observed Monsieur Fromagin, "that the cat--it was among his

-many tricks--had the habitude to jump on Madame Jolicoeur's head when,

-for that purpose, she covered it with a night-cap. The use of the cat's

-claws on such a covering, and, also, her hair being very abundant--"

-

-"_Very_ abundant!" interjected Madame Vic; and added: "She, she is of a

-richness to buy wigs by the scores!"

-

-"It was his custom, I say," continued Monsieur Fromagin with insistence,

-"to steady himself after his leap by using lightly his claws. His

-illusion in regard to the bald head of the Notary, it would seem, led to

-the catastrophe. Using his claws at first lightly, according to his

-habit, he went on to use them with a truly savage energy--when he found

-himself as on ice on that slippery eminence and verging to a fall."

-

-"They say that his scalp was peeled away in strips and strings!" said

-Madame Vic. "And all the while that woman and that reprobate of a Major

-standing by in shrieks and roars of laughter--never raising a hand to

-save him from the beast's ferocities! The poor man has my sympathies.

-He, at least, in all his doings--I do not for a moment believe the story

-that he caused the cat to be stolen--observed rigidly the convenances:

-so recklessly shattered by Madame Jolicoeur in her most compromising

-dinner with the Major alone!"

-

-"But Madame forgets that their dinner was in celebration of their

-betrothal--following Madame Jolicoeur's glad yielding, in just

-gratitude, when the Major heroically had rescued her deserving cat from

-the midst of its enemies and triumphantly had restored it to her arms."

-

-"It is the man's part," responded Madame Vic, "to make the best of such

-matters. In the eyes of all right-minded women her conduct has been of a

-shamelessness from first to last: tossing and balancing the two of them

-for months upon months; luring them, and countless others with them, to

-her feet; declaring always that for her disgusting cat's sake she will

-have none of them; and ending by pretending brazenly that for her cat's

-sake she bestows herself--second-hand remnant that she is--on the

-handsomest man for his age, concerning his character it is well to be

-silent; that she could find for herself in all Marseille! On such

-actions, on such a woman, Monsieur, the saints in heaven look down with

-an agonized scorn!"

-

-"Only those of the saints, Madame," said Monsieur Fromagin, warmly

-taking up the cudgels for his best customer, "as in the matter of second

-marriages, prior to their arrival in heaven, have had regrettable

-experiences. Equally, I venture to assert, a like qualification applies

-to a like attitude on earth. That Madame has her prejudices, incident to

-her misfortunes, is known."

-

-"That Monsieur has his brutalities, incident to his regrettable bad

-breeding, also is known. His present offensiveness, however, passes all

-limits. I request him to remove himself from my sight." Madame Vic spoke

-with dignity.

-

-Speaking with less dignity, but with conviction--as Monsieur Fromagin

-left the bakery--she added: "Monsieur, effectively, is a camel! I bestow

-upon him my disdain!"

-

-                                                       THOMAS A. JANVIER.

-

-

-

-

-A FRIENDLY RAT

-

-

-Most of our animals, also many creeping things, such as our "wilde

-wormes in woods," common toads, natter-jacks, newts, and lizards, and

-stranger still, many insects, have been tamed and kept as pets.

-

-Badgers, otters, foxes, hares, and voles are easily dealt with; but that

-any person should desire to fondle so prickly a creature as a hedgehog,

-or so diabolical a mammalian as the bloodthirsty flat-headed little

-weasel, seems very odd. Spiders, too, are uncomfortable pets; you can't

-caress them as you could a dormouse; the most you can do is to provide

-your spider with a clear glass bottle to live in, and teach him to come

-out in response to a musical sound, drawn from a banjo or fiddle, to

-take a fly from your fingers and go back again to its bottle.

-

-An acquaintance of the writer is partial to adders as pets, and he

-handles them as freely as the schoolboy does his innocuous ring-snake;

-Mr. Benjamin Kidd once gave us a delightful account of his pet

-humble-bees, who used to fly about his room, and come at call to be fed,

-and who manifested an almost painful interest in his coat buttons,

-examining them every day as if anxious to find out their true

-significance. Then there was my old friend, Miss Hopely, the writer on

-reptiles, who died recently, aged 99 years, who tamed newts, but whose

-favourite pet was a slow-worm. She was never tired of expatiating on

-its lovable qualities. One finds Viscount Grey's pet squirrels more

-engaging, for these are wild squirrels in a wood in Northumberland, who

-quickly find out when he is at home and make their way to the house,

-scale the walls, and invade the library; then, jumping upon his

-writing-table, are rewarded with nuts, which they take from his hand.

-Another Northumbrian friend of the writer keeps, or kept, a pet

-cormorant, and finds him no less greedy in the domestic than in the wild

-state. After catching and swallowing fish all the morning in a

-neighbouring river, he wings his way home at meal-times, screaming to be

-fed, and ready to devour all the meat and pudding he can get.

-

-The list of strange creatures might be extended indefinitely, even

-fishes included; but who has ever heard of a tame pet rat? Not the small

-white, pink-eyed variety, artificially bred, which one may buy at any

-dealer's, but a common brown rat, _Mus decumanus_, one of the commonest

-wild animals in England and certainly the most disliked. Yet this wonder

-has been witnessed recently in the village of Lelant, in West Cornwall.

-Here is the strange story, which is rather sad and at the same time a

-little funny.

-

-This was not a case of "wild nature won by kindness"; the rat simply

-thrust itself and its friendship on the woman of the cottage: and she,

-being childless and much alone in her kitchen and living-room, was not

-displeased at its visits: on the contrary, she fed it; in return the rat

-grew more and more friendly and familiar towards her, and the more

-familiar it grew, the more she liked the rat. The trouble was, she

-possessed a cat, a nice gentle animal not often at home, but it was

-dreadful to think of what might happen at any moment should pussy walk

-in when her visitor was with her. Then, one day, pussy did walk in when

-the rat was present, purring loudly, her tail held stiffly up, showing

-that she was in her usual sweet temper. On catching sight of the rat,

-she appeared to know intuitively that it was there as a privileged

-guest, while the rat on its part seemed to know, also by intuition, that

-it had nothing to fear. At all events these two quickly became friends

-and were evidently pleased to be together, as they now spent most of the

-time in the room, and would drink milk from the same saucer, and sleep

-bunched up together, and were extremely intimate.

-

-By and by the rat began to busy herself making a nest in a corner of the

-kitchen under a cupboard, and it became evident that there would soon be

-an increase in the rat population. She now spent her time running about

-and gathering little straws, feathers, string, and anything of the kind

-she could pick up, also stealing or begging for strips of cotton, or

-bits of wool and thread from the work-basket. Now it happened that her

-friend was one of those cats with huge tufts of soft hair on the two

-sides of her face; a cat of that type, which is not uncommon, has a

-quaint resemblance to a Mid-Victorian gentleman with a pair of

-magnificent side-whiskers of a silky softness covering both cheeks and

-flowing down like a double beard. The rat suddenly discovered that this

-hair was just what she wanted to add a cushion-like lining to her nest,

-so that her naked pink little ratlings should be born into the softest

-of all possible worlds. At once she started plucking out the hairs, and

-the cat, taking it for a new kind of game, but a little too rough to

-please her, tried for a while to keep her head out of reach and to throw

-the rat off. But she wouldn't be thrown off, and as she persisted in

-flying back and jumping at the cat's face and plucking the hairs, the

-cat quite lost her temper and administered a blow with her claws

-unsheathed.

-

-The rat fled to her refuge to lick her wounds, and was no doubt as much

-astonished at the sudden change in her friend's disposition as the cat

-had been at the rat's new way of showing her playfulness. The result was

-that when, after attending her scratches, she started upon her task of

-gathering soft materials, she left the cat severely alone. They were no

-longer friends; they simply ignored one another's presence in the room.

-The little ones, numbering about a dozen, presently came to light and

-were quietly removed by the woman's husband, who didn't mind his missis

-keeping a rat, but drew the line at one.

-

-The rat quickly recovered from her loss and was the same nice

-affectionate little thing she had always been to her mistress; then a

-fresh wonder came to light--cat and rat were fast friends once more!

-This happy state of things lasted a few weeks; but, as we know, the rat

-was married, though her lord and master never appeared on the scene,

-indeed, he was not wanted; and very soon it became plain to see that

-more little rats were coming. The rat is an exceedingly prolific

-creature; she can give a month's start to a rabbit and beat her at the

-end by about 40 points.

-

-Then came the building of the nest in the same old corner, and when it

-got to the last stage and the rat was busily running about in search of

-soft materials for the lining, she once more made the discovery that

-those beautiful tufts of hair on her friend's face were just what she

-wanted, and once more she set vigorously to work pulling the hairs out.

-Again, as on the former occasion, the cat tried to keep her friend off,

-hitting her right and left with her soft pads, and spitting a little,

-just to show that she didn't like it. But the rat was determined to have

-the hairs, and the more she was thrown off the more bent was she on

-getting them, until the breaking-point was reached and puss, in a sudden

-rage, let fly, dealing blow after blow with lightning rapidity and with

-all the claws out. The rat, shrieking with pain and terror, rushed out

-of the room and was never seen again, to the lasting grief of her

-mistress. But its memory will long remain like a fragrance in the

-cottage--perhaps the only cottage in all this land where kindly feelings

-for the rat are cherished.

-

-                                                           W. H. HUDSON.

-

-

-

-

-MONTY'S FRIEND

-

-

-The discovery of gold at Thompson's Flat, near the northern boundary of

-Montana, had been promptly followed by the expected rush of bold and

-needy adventurers. But disappointment awaited them. Undoubtedly there

-was gold a few feet below the surface, but it was not found in

-quantities sufficient to compensate for the labour, privation, and

-danger, which the miners were compelled to undergo.

-

-It is true that the first discoverer of gold, who had given his name to

-the Flat, had found a "pocket," which had made him a rich man; but his

-luck remained unique, and as Big Simpson sarcastically remarked, "A man

-might as well try to find a pocket in a woman's dress as to search for a

-second pocket in Thompson's Flat." For eight months of the year the

-ground was frozen deep and hard, and during the brief summer the heat

-was intense. There were hostile Indians in the vicinity of the camp, and

-although little danger was to be apprehended from them while the camp

-swarmed with armed miners, there was every probability that they would

-sooner or later attack the handful of men who had remained, after the

-great majority of the miners had abandoned their claims and gone in

-search of more promising fields.

-

-In the early part of the summer following Thompson's discovery of gold

-there were but thirty men left in the camp, with only a single combined

-grocery and saloon to minister to their wants. Partly because of

-obstinacy, and partly because of a want of energy to repeat the

-experiment of searching for gold in some other unprofitable place, these

-thirty men remained, and daily prosecuted their nearly hopeless search

-for fortune. Their evenings were spent in the saloon, but there was a

-conspicuous absence of anything like jollity. The men were too poor to

-gamble with any zest, and the whiskey of the saloon keeper was bad and

-dear.

-

-The one gleam of good fortune which had come to the camp was the fact

-that the Indians had disappeared, having, as it was believed, gone

-hundreds of miles south to attack another tribe. Gradually the miners

-relaxed the precautions which had at first been maintained against an

-attack, and although every man went armed to his work, sentinels were no

-longer posted either by day or night, and the Gatling gun that had been

-bought by public subscription in the prosperous days of the camp

-remained in the storeroom of the saloon without ammunition, and with its

-mechanism rusty and immovable.

-

-Only one miner had arrived at Thompson's Flat that summer. He was a

-middle-aged man who said that his name was Montgomery Carleton--a name

-which instantly awoke the resentment of the camp, and was speedily

-converted into "Monte Carlo" by the resentful miners, who intimated very

-plainly that no man could carry a fifteen-inch name in that camp and

-live. Monte Carlo, or Monty, as he was usually called, had the further

-distinction of being the ugliest man in the entire north-west. He had,

-at some unspecified time, been kicked in the face by a mule, with the

-result that his features were converted into a hideous mask. He seemed

-to be of a social disposition, and would have joined freely in the

-conversation which went on at the saloon, but his advances were coldly

-received.

-

-Instead of pitying the man's misfortune, and avoiding all allusion to

-it, the miners bluntly informed him that he was too ugly to associate

-with gentlemen, and that a modest and retiring attitude was what public

-sentiment required of him. Monty took the rebuff quietly, and thereafter

-rarely spoke unless he was spoken to. He continued to frequent the

-saloon, sitting in the darkest corner, where he smoked his pipe, drank

-his solitary whisky, and answered with pathetic pleasure any remark that

-might be flung at him, even when it partook of the nature of a coarse

-jest at his expense.

-

-One gloomy evening Monty entered the saloon half an hour later than

-usual. It had been raining all day, and the spirits of the camp had gone

-down with the barometer. The men were more than ever conscious of their

-bad luck, and having only themselves to blame for persistently remaining

-at Thompson's Flat, were ready to cast the guilt of their folly on the

-nearest available scapegoat. Monty was accustomed to entering the room

-unnoticed, but on the present occasion he saw that instead of

-contemptuously ignoring his presence, the other occupants of the saloon

-were unmistakably scowling at him. Scarcely had he made his timid way to

-his accustomed seat when Big Simpson said in a loud voice:

-

-"Gentlemen, have you noticed that our luck has been more particularly

-low down ever since that there beauty in the corner had the cheek to

-sneak in among us?"

-

-"That's so!" exclaimed Slippery Jim. "Monty is ugly enough to spoil the

-luck of a blind nigger."

-

-"You see," continued Simpson, "thishyer beauty is like the Apostle

-Jonah. While he was aboard ship there wasn't any sort of luck, and at

-last the crew took and hove him overboard, and served him right. There's

-a mighty lot of wisdom in the Scriptures if you only take hold of 'em in

-the right way. My dad was a preacher, and I know what I'm talking

-about."

-

-"That's more than the rest of us does," retorted Slippery Jim. "We ain't

-no ship's crew and Monty ain't no apostle. If you mean we ought to heave

-him into the creek, why don't you say so?"

-

-"It wouldn't do him any harm," replied Simpson. "He's a dirty beast, and

-this camp hasn't no call to associate with men that's afraid of water,

-except, of course, when it comes to drinking it."

-

-"I'm as clean as any man here," said Monty, stirred for the moment to

-indignation. "Mining ain't the cleanest sort of work, and I don't find

-no fault with Simpson nor any other man if he happens to carry a little

-of his claim around with him."

-

-"That'll do," said Simpson severely. "We don't allow no such cuss as you

-to make reflections on gentlemen. We've put up with your ugly mug

-altogether too long, and I for one ain't going to do it no longer. What

-do you say, gentlemen?" he continued, turning to his companions, "shall

-we trifle with our luck, and lower our self-respect any longer by

-tolerating the company of that there disreputable, low-down, miserable

-coyote? I go for boycotting him. Let him work his own claim and sleep in

-his own cabin if he wants to, but don't let him intrude himself into

-this saloon or into our society anywhere else."

-

-The proposal met with unanimous approval. The men wanted something on

-which to wreak their spite against adverse fortune, and as Monty was

-unpopular and friendless he was made the victim. Simpson ordered him to

-withdraw from the saloon and never again to enter it at an hour when

-other gentlemen were there. "What's more," he added, "you'll not venture

-to speak to anybody; and if any gentleman chances to heave a remark at

-you you'll answer him at your peril. We're a law-abiding camp, and we

-don't want to use violence against no man; but if you don't conform to

-the kind and reasonable regulations that I've just mentioned to you,

-there'll be a funeral, and you'll be required to furnish the corpse. You

-hear me?"

-

-"I hear you," said Monty. "I hear a man what's got no more feelings than

-a ledge of quartz rock. What harm have I ever done to any man in the

-camp? I know I ain't handsome, but there's some among you that ain't

-exactly Pauls and Apolloses. If you don't want me here why don't you

-take me and shoot me? It would be a sight kinder and more decent than

-the way you say you mean to treat me."

-

-"Better dry up!" said Simpson, warningly. "We don't want none of your

-lip. We've had enough of you, and that's all about it."

-

-"I've no more to say," replied Monty, rising and moving to the door.

-"If you've had enough of me I've had enough of you. I've been treated

-worse than a dog, and I ain't going to lick no man's hand. Good evening,

-gentlemen. The day may come when some of you will be ashamed of this

-day's work, that is if you've heart enough to be ashamed of anything."

-

-So saying Monty walked slowly out, closing the door ostentatiously

-behind him. His departure was greeted by a burst of laughter, and the

-cheerfulness of the assembled miners having been restored by the

-sacrifice of Monte Carlo, a subdued gaiety once more reigned in the

-saloon.

-

-Monty returned to his desolate cabin, and after lighting his candle

-threw himself into his bunk. The man was coarse and ignorant, but he was

-capable of keenly feeling the insult that had been put upon him. He knew

-that he was hideously ugly, but he had never dreamed that the fact would

-be made a pretext for thrusting him from the society of his kind.

-Strange to say he felt little anger against his persecutors. No thoughts

-of revenge came to him as he lay in the silence and loneliness of his

-cabin. For the time being the sense of utter isolation crowded out all

-other sensations. He felt infinitely more alone when the sound of voices

-reached him from the saloon than he would have felt had he been lost in

-the great North forest.

-

-Before coming to Thompson's Flat he had lived in one of the large towns

-of Michigan, where decent and civilized people had not been ashamed to

-associate with him. Here, in this wretched mining camp, a gang of men,

-guiltless of washing, foul in language, and brutal in instinct, had

-informed him that he was unfit to associate with them. There had never

-been any one among the miners for whom he had felt the slightest liking;

-but it had been a comfort to exchange an occasional word with a

-fellow-being. Now that he was sentenced to complete isolation he felt as

-a shipwrecked man feels who has been cast alone on an uninhabited

-island. If the men would only retract their sentence of banishment, and

-would permit him to sit in his accustomed corner of the saloon he would

-not care how coarsely they might insult him--if only he could feel that

-his existence was recognized.

-

-But no! There was no hope for him. The men hated him because of his

-maimed and distorted face. They despised him, possibly because he did

-not permit himself to resent their conduct with his revolver, and thus

-give them an excuse for killing him. He could not leave the camp and

-make his way without supplies to the nearest civilized community. There

-was nothing for him to do but to work his miserable claim, and bear the

-immense and awful loneliness of his lot. As Monty thought over the

-situation and saw the hopelessness of it, his breath came in quick gasps

-until he broke into a sob, and the tears flowed down his scarred and

-grimy cheeks.

-

-A low, inquiring mew drew his attention for a moment from his woes. The

-camp cat--a ragged, disreputable animal, who owned no master, and

-rejected all friendly advances--stood in the door of Monty's cabin, with

-an interrogative tail pointing to the zenith and a friendly arch in his

-shabby back.

-

-Monty had often tried to make friends with the cat, but Tom had repulsed

-him as coldly as the miners themselves. Now in his loneliness the man

-was glad to be spoken to, even by the camp cat; and he called it to him,

-though without any expectation that the animal would come to him. But

-Tom, stalking slowly into the cabin, sprang after a moment's hesitation

-into Monty's bunk, and purring loudly in a hoarse voice, as one by whom

-the accomplishment of purring had long been neglected, gently and

-tentatively licked the man's face, and kneaded his throat with two soft

-and caressing paws. A vast sob shook both Monty and the cat. The man put

-his arms around the animal, and hugging him closely, kissed his head.

-The cat purred louder than ever, and presently laying his head against

-Monty's cheek, he drew a long breath and sank into a peaceful slumber.

-

-Monty was himself again. He was no longer alone. Tom, the cat, had come

-to him in the hour of his agony and had brought the solace of a love

-that did not heed his ugliness. Henceforth he would never be wholly

-alone, no matter how strictly the men might enforce their boycott

-against him. He no longer cared what they might do or say. He felt the

-warm breath of the friendly animal on his cheek. The remnant of its

-right ear twitched from time to time and tickled his lip. The long

-sinewy paws pressed against his neck trembled nervously, as the cat

-dreamed of stalking fat sparrows, or of stealing fried fish. Its hoarse

-croupy purr sounded like the sweetest music to the lonely man. "There's

-you and me, and me and you, Tom!" said Monty, stroking the cat's ragged

-and crumpled fur. "We'll stick together, and neither of us won't care a

-cuss what them low-down fellows says or does. You and me'll be all the

-world to one another. God bless you forever for coming to me this

-night."

-

-From that time onward, Monte Carlo and Tom were the most intimate of

-friends. Wherever the man went the cat followed. When he was working in

-the shallow trench, where the sparse gold dust was found, Tom sat or

-slept on the edge of the trench, and occasionally reminded Monty of the

-presence of a friend, by the soft crooning sound which a mother cat

-makes to her newborn kittens. The two shared their noon meal together;

-and it was said by those who professed to have watched them that the cat

-always had the first choice of food, while the man contented himself

-with what his comrade rejected. In the evening Monty and Tom sat

-together at the door of the cabin, and conversed in low tones of any

-subject that happened to interest them for the time being. Monty set

-forth his political and social views, and the cat, listening with

-attention, mewed assent, or more rarely expressed an opposite opinion by

-the short, sharp mew, or an unmistakable oath.

-

-Once or twice a week Monty was compelled to visit the saloon for

-groceries and other necessities. He always made these visits when the

-men of the camp were working in their claims; and he was invariably

-accompanied by Tom, who trotted by his side, and sprang on his shoulder

-while he made his purchases. The saloon keeper declared that when once

-by accident he gave Monty the wrong change, Tom loudly called his

-friend's attention to the error and insisted that it should be

-rectified. "That there cat," said the saloon keeper to his assembled

-guests on the following evening, "ain't no ordinary cat, for it stands

-to reason that if he was he wouldn't chum with Monty. A cat that takes

-up with such a pal, and that talks pretty near as well as you or me, or

-any other Christian is, according to what I learned at Sunday School,

-possessed with the devil. You mark my word, Monty sold his soul to that

-pretended cat, and presently he'll be shown a pocket chuck full of

-nuggets, and will go home with his ill-gotten gains while we stay here

-and starve."

-

-The feeling that there was something uncanny in the relations that

-existed between Monte Carlo and the cat gradually spread through the

-camp. While no man condescended to speak to the boycotted Monty, a close

-watch was kept upon him. Slippery Jim asserted that he had heard Monty

-and Tom discuss the characters of nearly every man in the camp, while he

-was concealed one evening in the tall grass near Monty's cabin.

-

-"First," said Jim, "Monty asked kind o' careless like, 'What may be your

-opinion of that there Big Simpson?' The cat, he just swears sort of

-contemptuous, and then Monty says, 'Jest so! That's what I've always

-said about him; and I calculated that a cat of your intelligence would

-say the same thing.' By and by Monty says, 'What's that you're saying

-about Red-haired Dick? You think he'd steal mice from a blind cat, and

-then lay it on the dog? Well! my son! I don't say he wouldn't. He's

-about as mean as they make 'em, and if I was you I wouldn't trust him

-with a last year's bone!' Then they kept on jawing to each other about

-this and that, and exchanging views about politics and religion, till

-after a while Tom lets out a yowl that sounded as if it was meant for a

-big laugh. Monty, he laughed too; and then he says, 'I never thought you

-would have noticed it, but that's exactly what Slippery Jim does every

-time he gets a chance.'

-

-"I don't know," continued Jim, "what they were referring to, but I do

-know that Monty and the cat talk together just as easy as you and me

-could talk, and I say that if it's come to this, that we're going to

-allow an idiot of a man and a devil of a cat to take away the characters

-of respectable gentlemen, we'd better knuckle down and beg Monty to take

-charge of this camp and to treat us like so many Injun squaws."

-

-Other miners followed Slippery Jim's example, in watching and listening

-to his conversations with the cat, and the indignation against the

-animal and his companion grew deep and bitter. It was decided that the

-scandal of an ostentatious friendship between a boycotted man and a cat

-that was unquestionably possessed by the devil must be ended. The

-suggestion that the cat should be shot would undoubtedly have been

-carried out, had it not been that Boston, who was a spiritualist,

-asserted that the animal could be hit only by a silver bullet. The camp

-would gladly have expended a silver bullet in so good a cause, but there

-was not a particle of silver in the camp, except what was contained in

-two or three silver watches.

-

-After several earnest discussions of the subject it was resolved that

-the cat should be hung on a stout witch-hazel bush, growing within a few

-yards of Simpson's cabin. It was recognized that hanging was an

-eminently proper method of treatment in the case of a cat of such

-malevolent character; and as for Monty himself, more than one man openly

-said that if he made any trouble about the disposal of the cat, he would

-instantly be strung up to a convenient pine tree which stood close to

-the witch-hazel bush.

-

-The next morning a committee of six, led by Big Simpson, cautiously

-approached the trench in which Monty was working. There was nearly an

-eighth of a mile between Monty's claim and those of the other miners.

-The latter had taken possession of that part of Thompson's Flat which

-seemed to hold out the best promise for gold, and Monty, partly because

-of his unprepossessing appearance, had been compelled to content himself

-with what was considered to be the least valuable claim in the camp.

-

-The committee made its way through the long coarse grass, which had

-sprung up under the fierce heat of summer, and was already as parched

-and dry as tinder. They had intended to seize the cat before Monty had

-become aware of their presence; and they were somewhat disconcerted when

-Monty, with the cat clasped tightly in his arms, came running towards

-them. "There's Injuns just over there in the woods," he cried. "Tom

-sighted them first, and after he'd called me I looked and see three

-devils sneaking along towards your end of the camp. You boys, rush and

-get your Winchesters, and I'll be with you in a couple of minutes."

-

-The men did not stop to question the accuracy of Monty's story. They

-forgot their designs against the cat, and no longer thought of their

-promise to shoot the boycotted man if he ventured to address them. They

-ran to their cabins, and seizing their rifles, rallied at the saloon,

-which was the only building capable of affording shelter. It was built

-of stout logs, and its one door was immensely thick and strong. By

-firing through the windows the garrison could keep at bay, at least for

-a time, the cautious Indian warriors, who would not charge through the

-open, so long as they could harass the miners from the shelter of the

-wood.

-

-After Monty had placed his cat in his bunk he took his rifle, and

-carefully closing the door of his cabin, joined his late enemies in the

-saloon. Several of them nodded genially to him as he entered, and

-Simpson, who was arranging the plan of defence, told him to take a

-position by one of the rear windows. The men understood perfectly well

-that Monty's warning had saved them from a surprise in which they would

-have been cruelly massacred. Perhaps they felt somewhat ashamed of their

-previous treatment of the man, but they offered no word of apology.

-

-However Monty thought little of their manner. Although he knew that in

-all probability the siege would be prolonged until not a single miner

-was left alive, his thoughts were not on himself or his companions.

-Would the Indians overlook his cabin, or in case they found it, would

-they offer violence to Tom? These were the questions that occupied his

-mind as he watched through the window for the gleam of a rifle barrel in

-the edge of the forest and answered every puff of smoke with an

-instantaneous shot from his Winchester. The enemy kept carefully under

-cover, and devoted their efforts to firing at the windows of the saloon.

-Already three shots had taken effect. Two dead bodies lay on the floor,

-and a wounded man sat in the corner, leaning against the wall, and

-slowly bleeding to death. Suddenly a cloud of smoke shot up in the

-direction of Monty's cabin. The Indians had set fire to the dry grass,

-and the flames were sweeping towards the cabin in which the cat was

-imprisoned.

-

-Monty took in the situation and came to a decision with the same

-swiftness and certainty with which he pulled the trigger. "You'll have

-to excuse me, boys, for a few minutes," he said, rising from his

-crouched attitude and throwing his rifle into the hollow of his arm.

-

-"What's the matter with you?" growled Simpson. "Have you turned coward

-all of a sudden, or are you thinking of scaring the Injuns by giving

-them a sight of your countenance?"

-

-"That there cabin of mine will be blazing inside of five minutes, and

-I've left Tom in it with the door fastened," replied Monty, ignoring the

-insulting suggestions of Simpson, and beginning to unbar the door.

-

-"Here! Come back, you blamed lunatic!" roared Simpson. "Do you call

-yourself a white man, and then throw your life away for a measly,

-rascally cat?"

-

-"I am going to help my friend if I kin," said Monty. "He stood by me

-when thishyer camp throwed me over, and I'll stand by him now he's in

-trouble."

-

-So saying he quietly passed out and vanished from the sight of the

-astonished miners.

-

-"I told you," said Slippery Jim, "that Monty was bewitched by that there

-cat. Who ever heard of a man that was a man who cared whether a cat got

-burned to death or not?"

-

-"You shut up!" exclaimed Simpson. "You haven't got sand enough to stand

-by your own brother--let alone standing by a cat."

-

-"What's the matter with you?" retorted Jim. "You was the one who

-proposed boycotting Monty, and now you're talking as if he was a tin

-saint on wheels."

-

-"Monty's acted like a man in this business," replied Simpson, "and it's

-my opinion that we've all treated him pretty particular mean. If we pull

-through this scrimmage Monty's my friend, and don't you forget it."

-

-Monte Carlo lost none of his habitual caution, although he was engaged

-in what he knew to be a desperate and nearly hopeless enterprise. On

-leaving the saloon he threw himself flat on the ground, and slowly drew

-himself along until he reached the shelter of the high grass. Then

-rising to his hands and knees he crept rapidly and steadily in the

-direction of his cabin.

-

-His course soon brought him between the fire of the miners and that of

-the Indians, but as neither could see him he fancied he was safe for the

-moment. He was drawing steadily closer to his goal, and was already

-beginning to feel the thrill of success, when a sharp blow on the right

-knee brought him headlong to the ground. A stray shot, fired possibly by

-some nervous miner who had taken his place at the saloon window, had

-struck him and smashed his leg.

-

-He could no longer creep on his hands and knees, but with indomitable

-resolution he dragged himself onward by clutching at the strong roots of

-the grass. His disabled leg gave him exquisite pain as it trailed behind

-him, and he knew that the wound was bleeding freely; but he still hoped

-to reach his cabin before faintness or death should put a stop to his

-progress. He felt sure that the shot which had struck him had not been

-aimed at him by an Indian, for if it had been he would already have felt

-the scalping knife. The nearer he drew to his cabin the less danger

-there was that the Indians would perceive him. If he could only endure

-the pain and the hemorrhage a few minutes longer he could reach and push

-open the door of his cabin, and give his imprisoned friend a chance for

-life. He dragged himself on with unfaltering resolution, and with his

-silent lips closed tightly. Not a groan nor a curse nor a prayer escaped

-him. He stuck to his task with the grim fortitude of the wolf who gnaws

-his leg free from the trap. All his thoughts and all his fast-vanishing

-strength were concentrated on the effort to save the creature that had

-loved him.

-

-After an eternity of anguish he reached the open space in front of the

-cabin, where the thick smoke hid him completely from the sight of both

-friends and foes. The flames had just caught the roof, and the heat was

-so intense that for an instant it made him forget the pain of his wound,

-as his choked lungs gasped for air. The wail of the frightened animal

-within the cabin gave him new energy. Digging his fingers into the

-ground he dragged himself across the few yards that separated him from

-the door. He reached it at last, pushed it open, and with a smile on his

-face lost consciousness as the cat bounded out and fled like a mad

-creature into the grass.

-

-Two hours later a troop of Mounted Police, who had illegally and

-generously crossed the border in time to drive off the Indians and to

-rescue the few surviving members of the camp, found, close to the

-smouldering embers of Monty's cabin, a scorched and blackened corpse, by

-the side of which sat a bristling black cat. The animal ceased to lick

-the maimed features of the dead man, and turned fiercely on the

-approaching troopers. When one of them dismounted and attempted to touch

-the corpse the cat flew at him with such fury that he hurriedly

-remounted his horse, amid the jeers of his comrades. The cat resumed the

-effort to recall the dead man to life with its rough caresses, and the

-men sat silently in their saddles watching the strange sight.

-

-"We can't bury the man without first shooting the cat," said one of the

-troopers.

-

-"Then we'll let him lie," said the sergeant in command. "We can stop

-here on our way back from the Fort, and maybe by that time the cat'll

-listen to reason. I'd as soon shoot my best friend as shoot the poor

-beast now."

-

-And the troop passed on, leaving Tom alone in the wilderness with his

-silent friend.

-

-                                              WILLIAM LIVINGSTON ALDEN.

-

-

-

-

-THE QUEEN'S CAT

-

-

-Once there was a great and powerful King who was as good as gold and as

-brave as a lion, but he had one weakness, which was a horror of cats. If

-he saw one through an open window he shuddered so that his medals

-jangled together and his crown fell off; if any one mentioned a cat at

-the table he instantly spilled his soup all down the front of his

-ermine; and if by any chance a cat happened to stroll into the audience

-chamber, he immediately jumped on to his throne, gathering his robes

-around him and shrieking at the top of his lungs.

-

-Now this King was a bachelor and his people didn't like it; so being

-desirous of pleasing them, he looked around among the neighbouring royal

-families and hit upon a very sweet and beautiful princess, whom he asked

-in marriage without any delay, for he was a man of action.

-

-Her parents giving their hearty consent, the pair were married at her

-father's palace; and after the festivities were over, the King sped home

-to see to the preparation of his wife's apartments. In due time she

-arrived, bringing with her a cat. When he saw her mounting the steps

-with the animal under her arm, the King, who was at the door to meet

-her, uttering a horrid yell, fell in a swoon and had to be revived with

-spirits of ammonia. The courtiers hastened to inform the Queen of her

-husband's failing, and when he came to, he found her in tears.

-

-"I cannot exist without a cat!" she wept.

-

-"And I, my love," replied the King, "cannot exist with one!"

-

-"You must learn to bear it!" said she.

-

-"You must learn to live without it!" said he.

-

-"But life would not be worth living without a cat!" she wailed.

-

-"Well, well, my love, we will see what we can do," sighed the King.

-

-"Suppose," he went on, "you kept it in the round tower over there. Then

-you could go to see it."

-

-"Shut up my cat that has been used to running around in the open air?"

-cried the Queen. "Never!"

-

-"Suppose," suggested the King again, "we made an enclosure for it of

-wire netting."

-

-"My dear," cried the Queen, "a good strong cat like mine could climb out

-in a minute."

-

-"Well," said the King once more, "suppose we give it the palace roof,

-and I will keep out of the way."

-

-"That is a good scheme," said his wife, drying her eyes.

-

-And they immediately fitted up the roof with a cushioned shelter, and a

-bed of catnip, and a bench where the Queen might sit. There the cat was

-left; and the Queen went up three times a day to feed it, and twice as

-many times to visit it, and for almost two days that seemed the solution

-of the problem. Then the cat discovered that by making a spring to the

-limb of an overhanging oak tree, it could climb down the trunk and go

-where it liked. This it did, making its appearance in the throne-room,

-where the King was giving audience to an important ambassador. Much to

-the amazement of the latter, the monarch leapt up screaming, and was

-moreover so upset, that the affairs of state had all to be postponed

-till the following day. The tree was, of course, cut down; and the next

-day the cat found crawling down the gutter to be just as easy, and

-jumped in the window while the court was at breakfast. The King

-scrambled on to the breakfast table, skilfully overturning the cream and

-the coffee with one foot, while planting the other in the poached eggs,

-and wreaking untold havoc among the teacups. Again the affairs of state

-were postponed while the gutter was ripped off the roof, to the fury of

-the head gardener, who had just planted his spring seeds in the beds

-around the palace walls. Of course the next rain washed them all away.

-

-This sort of thing continued. The wistaria vine which had covered the

-front of the palace for centuries, was ruthlessly torn down, the

-trellises along the wings soon followed; and finally an ancient grape

-arbour had perforce to be removed as it proved a sure means of descent

-for that invincible cat. Even then, he cleverly utilized the balconies

-as a ladder to the ground; but by this time the poor King's nerves were

-quite shattered and the doctor was called in. All he could prescribe was

-a total abstinence from cat; and the Queen, tearfully finding a home for

-her pet, composed herself to live without one. The King, well cared for,

-soon revived and was himself again, placidly conducting the affairs of

-state, and happy in the society of his beloved wife. Not so the latter.

-

-Before long it was noticed that the Queen grew wan, was often heard to

-sniff, and seen to wipe her eyes, would not eat, could not sleep,--in

-short, the doctor was again called in.

-

-"Dear, dear," he said disconsolately, combing his long beard with his

-thin fingers. "This is a difficult situation indeed. There must not be a

-cat on the premises, or the King will assuredly have nervous

-prostration. Yet the Queen must have a cat or she will pine quite away

-with nostalgia."

-

-"I think I had best return to my family," sobbed the poor Queen,

-dejectedly. "I bring you nothing but trouble, my own."

-

-"That is impossible, my dearest love," said the King decidedly--"Here my

-people have so long desired me to marry, and now that I am at last

-settled in the matrimonial way, we must not disappoint them. They enjoy

-a Queen so much. It gives them something pretty to think about. Besides,

-my love, I am attached to you, myself, and could not possibly manage

-without you. No, my dear, there may be a way out of our difficulties,

-but that certainly is not it." Having delivered which speech the King

-lapsed again into gloom, and the doctor who was an old friend of the

-King's went away sadly.

-

-He returned, however, the following day with a smile tangled somewhere

-in his long beard. He found the King sitting mournfully by the Queen's

-bedside.

-

-"Would your majesty," began the doctor, turning to the Queen, "object

-to a cat that did not look like a cat?"

-

-"Oh, no," cried she, earnestly, "just so it's a _cat_!"

-

-"Would your majesty," said the doctor again, turning to the King,

-"object to a cat that did not look like a cat?"

-

-"Oh, no," cried he, "just so it doesn't _look_ like a cat!"

-

-"Well," said the doctor, beaming, "I have a cat that is a cat and that

-doesn't look any more like a cat than a skillet, and I should be only

-too honoured to present it to the Queen if she would be so gracious as

-to accept it."

-

-Both the King and the Queen were overjoyed and thanked the doctor with

-tears in their eyes. So the cat--for it was a cat though you never would

-have known it--arrived and was duly presented to the Queen, who welcomed

-it with open arms and felt better immediately.

-

-It was a thin, wiry, long-legged creature, with no tail at all, and

-large ears like sails, a face like a lean isosceles triangle with the

-nose as a very sharp apex, eyes small and yellow like flat buttons,

-brown fur short and coarse, and large floppy feet. It had a voice like a

-steam siren and its name was Rosamund.

-

-The King and Queen were both devoted to it; she because it was a cat, he

-because it seemed anything but a cat. No one indeed could convince the

-King that it was not a beautiful animal, and he had made for it a

-handsome collar of gold and amber--"to match," he said, sentimentally,

-"its lovely eyes." In sooth so ugly a beast never had such a pampered

-and luxurious existence, certainly never so royal a one. Appreciating

-its wonderful good fortune, it never showed any inclination to depart;

-and the King, the Queen, and Rosamund lived happily ever after.

-

-                                                          PEGGY BACON.

-

-

-

-

-CALVIN

-

-

-Calvin is dead. His life, long to him, but short for the rest of us, was

-not marked by startling adventures, but his character was so uncommon

-and his qualities were so worthy of imitation, that I have been asked by

-those who personally knew him to set down my recollections of his

-career.

-

-His origin and ancestry were shrouded in mystery; even his age was a

-matter of pure conjecture. Although he was of the Maltese race, I have

-reason to suppose that he was American by birth as he certainly was in

-sympathy. Calvin was given to me eight years ago by Mrs. Stowe, but she

-knew nothing of his age or origin. He walked into her house one day out

-of the great unknown and became at once at home, as if he had been

-always a friend of the family. He appeared to have artistic and literary

-tastes, and it was as if he had inquired at the door if that was the

-residence of the author of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, and, upon being assured

-that it was, had decided to dwell there. This is, of course, fanciful,

-for his antecedents were wholly unknown, but in his time he could hardly

-have been in any household where he would not have heard _Uncle Tom's

-Cabin_ talked about. When he came to Mrs. Stowe, he was as large as he

-ever was, and apparently as old as he ever became. Yet there was in him

-no appearance of age; he was in the happy maturity of all his powers,

-and you would rather have said in that maturity he had found the secret

-of perpetual youth. And it was as difficult to believe that he would

-ever be aged as it was to imagine that he had ever been in immature

-youth. There was in him a mysterious perpetuity.

-

-After some years, when Mrs. Stowe made her winter home in Florida,

-Calvin came to live with us. From the first moment, he fell into the

-ways of the house and assumed a recognized position in the family,--I

-say recognized, because after he became known he was always inquired for

-by visitors, and in the letters to the other members of the family he

-always received a message. Although the least obtrusive of beings, his

-individuality always made itself felt.

-

-His personal appearance had much to do with this, for he was of royal

-mould, and had an air of high breeding. He was large, but he had nothing

-of the fat grossness of the celebrated Angora family; though powerful,

-he was exquisitely proportioned, and as graceful in every movement as a

-young leopard. When he stood up to open a door--he opened all the doors

-with old-fashioned latches--he was portentously tall, and when stretched

-on the rug before the fire he seemed too long for this world--as indeed

-he was. His coat was the finest and softest I have ever seen, a shade of

-quiet Maltese; and from his throat downward, underneath, to the white

-tips of his feet, he wore the whitest and most delicate ermine; and no

-person was ever more fastidiously neat. In his finely formed head you

-saw something of his aristocratic character; the ears were small and

-cleanly cut, there was a tinge of pink in the nostrils, his face was

-handsome, and the expression of his countenance exceedingly

-intelligent--I should call it even a sweet expression if the term were

-not inconsistent with his look of alertness and sagacity.

-

-It is difficult to convey a just idea of his gaiety in connection with

-his dignity and gravity, which his name expressed. As we know nothing of

-his family, of course it will be understood that Calvin was his

-Christian name. He had times of relaxation into utter playfulness,

-delighting in a ball of yarn, catching sportively at stray ribbons when

-his mistress was at her toilet, and pursuing his own tail, with

-hilarity, for lack of anything better. He could amuse himself by the

-hour, and he did not care for children; perhaps something in his past

-was present to his memory. He had absolutely no bad habits, and his

-disposition was perfect. I never saw him exactly angry, though I have

-seen his tail grow to an enormous size when a strange cat appeared upon

-his lawn. He disliked cats, evidently regarding them as feline and

-treacherous, and he had no association with them. Occasionally there

-would be heard a night concert in the shrubbery. Calvin would ask to

-have the door opened, and then you would hear a rush and a "pestzt," and

-the concert would explode, and Calvin would quietly come in and resume

-his seat on the hearth. There was no trace of anger in his manner, but

-he wouldn't have any of that about the house. He had the rare virtue of

-magnanimity. Although he had fixed notions about his own rights, and

-extraordinary persistency in getting them, he never showed temper at a

-repulse; he simply and firmly persisted till he had what he wanted. His

-diet was one point; his idea was that of the scholars about

-dictionaries,--to "get the best." He knew as well as any one what was in

-the house, and would refuse beef if turkey was to be had; and if there

-were oysters, he would wait over the turkey to see if the oysters would

-not be forthcoming. And yet he was not a gross gourmand; he would eat

-bread if he saw me eating it, and thought he was not being imposed on.

-His habits of feeding, also, were refined; he never used a knife, and he

-would put up his hand and draw the fork down to his mouth as gracefully

-as a grown person. Unless necessity compelled, he would not eat in the

-kitchen, but insisted upon his meals in the dining-room, and would wait

-patiently, unless a stranger were present; and then he was sure to

-importune the visitor, hoping that the latter was ignorant of the rule

-of the house, and would give him something. They used to say that he

-preferred as his table-cloth on the floor a certain well-known church

-journal; but this was said by an Episcopalian. So far as I know, he had

-no religious prejudices, except that he did not like the association

-with Romanists. He tolerated the servants, because they belonged to the

-house, and would sometimes linger by the kitchen stove; but the moment

-visitors came in he arose, opened the door, and marched into the

-drawing-room. Yet he enjoyed the company of his equals, and never

-withdrew, no matter how many callers--whom he recognized as of his

-society--might come into the drawing-room. Calvin was fond of company,

-but he wanted to choose it; and I have no doubt that his was an

-aristocratic fastidiousness rather than one of faith. It is so with

-most people.

-

-The intelligence of Calvin was something phenomenal, in his rank of

-life. He established a method of communicating his wants, and even some

-of his sentiments; and he could help himself in many things. There was a

-furnace register in a retired room, where he used to go when he wished

-to be alone, that he always opened when he desired more heat; but never

-shut it, any more than he shut the door after himself. He could do

-almost everything but speak; and you would declare sometimes that you

-could see a pathetic longing to do that in his intelligent face. I have

-no desire to overdraw his qualities, but if there was one thing in him

-more noticeable than another, it was his fondness for nature. He could

-content himself for hours at a low window, looking into the ravine and

-at the great trees, noting the smallest stir there; he delighted, above

-all things, to accompany me walking about the garden, hearing the birds,

-getting the smell of the fresh earth, and rejoicing in the sunshine. He

-followed me and gambolled like a dog, rolling over on the turf and

-exhibiting his delight in a hundred ways. If I worked, he sat and

-watched me, or looked off over the bank, and kept his ear open to the

-twitter in the cherry-trees. When it stormed, he was sure to sit at the

-window, keenly watching the rain or the snow, glancing up and down at

-its falling; and a winter tempest always delighted him. I think he was

-genuinely fond of birds, but, so far as I know, he usually confined

-himself to one a day; he never killed, as some sportsmen do, for the

-sake of killing, but only as civilized people do,--from necessity. He

-was intimate with the flying-squirrels who dwell in the

-chestnut-trees,--too intimate, for almost every day in the summer he

-would bring in one, until he nearly discouraged them. He was, indeed, a

-superb hunter, and would have been a devastating one, if his bump of

-destructiveness had not been offset by a bump of moderation. There was

-very little of the brutality of the lower animals about him; I don't

-think he enjoyed rats for themselves, but he knew his business, and for

-the first few months of his residence with us he waged an awful campaign

-against the horde, and after that his simple presence was sufficient to

-deter them from coming on the premises. Mice amused him, but he usually

-considered them too small game to be taken seriously; I have seen him

-play for an hour with a mouse, and then let him go with a royal

-condescension. In this whole matter of "getting a living," Calvin was a

-great contrast to the rapacity of the age in which he lived.

-

-I hesitate a little to speak of his capacity for friendship and the

-affectionateness of his nature, for I know from his own reserve that he

-would not care to have it much talked about. We understood each other

-perfectly, but we never made any fuss about it; when I spoke his name

-and snapped my fingers, he came to me; when I returned home at night, he

-was pretty sure to be waiting for me near the gate, and would rise and

-saunter along the walk, as if his being there were purely

-accidental,--so shy was he commonly of showing feeling; and when I

-opened the door he never rushed in, like a cat, but loitered, and

-lounged, as if he had had no intention of going in, but would condescend

-to. And yet, the fact was, he knew dinner was ready, and he was bound

-to be there. He kept the run of dinner-time. It happened sometimes,

-during our absence in the summer, that dinner would be early, and Calvin

-walking about the grounds, missed it and came in late. But he never made

-a mistake the second day. There was one thing he never did,--he never

-rushed through an open doorway. He never forgot his dignity. If he had

-asked to have the door opened, and was eager to go out, he always went

-deliberately; I can see him now, standing on the sill, looking about at

-the sky as if he was thinking whether it were worth while to take an

-umbrella, until he was near having his tail shut in.

-

-His friendship was rather constant than demonstrative. When we returned

-from an absence of nearly two years, Calvin welcomed us with evident

-pleasure, but showed his satisfaction rather by tranquil happiness than

-by fuming about. He had the faculty of making us glad to get home. It

-was his constancy that was so attractive. He liked companionship, but he

-wouldn't be petted, or fussed over, or sit in any one's lap a moment; he

-always extricated himself from such familiarity with dignity and with no

-show of temper. If there was any petting to be done, however, he chose

-to do it. Often he would sit looking at me, and then, moved by a

-delicate affection, come and pull at my coat and sleeve until he could

-touch my face with his nose, and then go away contented. He had a habit

-of coming to my study in the morning, sitting quietly by my side or on

-the table for hours, watching the pen run over the paper, occasionally

-swinging his tail round for a blotter, and then going to sleep among

-the papers by the inkstand. Or, more rarely, he would watch the writing

-from a perch on my shoulder. Writing always interested him, and, until

-he understood it, he wanted to hold the pen.

-

-He always held himself in a kind of reserve with his friend, as if he

-had said, "Let us respect our personality, and not make a 'mess' of

-friendship." He saw, with Emerson, the risk of degrading it to trivial

-conveniency. "Why insist on rash personal relations with your friend?"

-"Leave this touching and clawing." Yet I would not give an unfair notion

-of his aloofness, his fine sense of the sacredness of the me and the

-not-me. And, at the risk of not being believed, I will relate an

-incident, which was often repeated. Calvin had the practice of passing a

-portion of the night in the contemplation of its beauties, and would

-come into our chamber over the roof of the conservatory through the open

-window, summer and winter, and go to sleep on the foot of my bed. He

-would do this always exactly in this way; he never was content to stay

-in the chamber if we compelled him to go upstairs and through the door.

-He had the obstinacy of General Grant. But this is by the way. In the

-morning, he performed his toilet and went down to breakfast with the

-rest of the family. Now, when the mistress was absent from home, and at

-no other time, Calvin would come in the morning, when the bell rang, to

-the head of the bed, put up his feet and look into my face, follow me

-about when I rose, "assist" at the dressing, and in many purring ways

-show his fondness, as if he had plainly said, "I know that she has gone

-away, but I am here." Such was Calvin in rare moments.

-

-He had his limitations. Whatever passion he had for nature, he had no

-conception of art. There was sent to him once a fine and very expressive

-cat's head in bronze, by Frémiet. I placed it on the floor. He regarded

-it intently, approached it cautiously and crouchingly, touched it with

-his nose, perceived the fraud, turned away abruptly, and never would

-notice it afterward. On the whole, his life was not only a successful

-one, but a happy one. He never had but one fear, so far as I know: he

-had a mortal and a reasonable terror of plumbers. He would never stay in

-the house when they were here. No coaxing could quiet him. Of course he

-didn't share our fear about their charges, but he must have had some

-dreadful experience with them in that portion of his life which is

-unknown to us. A plumber was to him the devil, and I have no doubt that,

-in his scheme, plumbers were foreordained to do him mischief.

-

-In speaking of his worth, it has never occurred to me to estimate Calvin

-by the worldly standard. I know that it is customary now, when any one

-dies, to ask how much he was worth, and that no obituary in the

-newspapers is considered complete without such an estimate. The plumbers

-in our house were one day overheard to say that, "They say that _she_

-says that _he_ says that he wouldn't take a hundred dollars for him." It

-is unnecessary to say that I never made such a remark, and that, so far

-as Calvin was concerned, there was no purchase in money.

-

-As I look back upon it, Calvin's life seems to me a fortunate one, for

-it was natural and unforced. He ate when he was hungry, slept when he

-was sleepy, and enjoyed existence to the very tips of his toes and the

-end of his expressive and slow-moving tail. He delighted to roam about

-the garden, and stroll among the trees, and to lie on the green grass

-and luxuriate in all the sweet influences of summer. You could never

-accuse him of idleness, and yet he knew the secret of repose. The poet

-who wrote so prettily of him that his little life was rounded with a

-sleep, understated his felicity; it was rounded with a good many. His

-conscience never seemed to interfere with his slumbers. In fact, he had

-good habits and a contented mind. I can see him now walk in at the study

-door, sit down by my chair, bring his tail artistically about his feet,

-and look up at me with unspeakable happiness in his handsome face. I

-often thought that he felt the dumb limitation which denied him the

-power of language. But since he was denied speech, he scorned the

-inarticulate mouthings of the lower animals. The vulgar mewing and

-yowling of the cat species was beneath him; he sometimes uttered a sort

-of articulate and well-bred ejaculation, when he wished to call

-attention to something that he considered remarkable, or to some want of

-his, but he never went whining about. He would sit for hours at a closed

-window, when he desired to enter, without a murmur, and when it was

-opened he never admitted that he had been impatient by "bolting" in.

-Though speech he had not, and the unpleasant kind of utterance given to

-his race he would not use, he had a mighty power of purr to express his

-measureless content with congenial society. There was in him a musical

-organ with stops of varied power and expression, upon which I have no

-doubt he could have performed Scarlatti's celebrated cat's-fugue.

-

-Whether Calvin died of old age, or was carried off by one of the

-diseases incident to youth, it is impossible to say; for his departure

-was as quiet as his advent was mysterious. I only know that he appeared

-to us in this world in his perfect stature and beauty, and that after a

-time, like Lohengrin, he withdrew. In his illness there was nothing more

-to be regretted than in all his blameless life. I suppose there never

-was an illness that had more of dignity and sweetness and resignation in

-it. It came on gradually, in a kind of listlessness and want of

-appetite. An alarming symptom was his preference for the warmth of a

-furnace-register to the lively sparkle of the open wood-fire. Whatever

-pain he suffered, he bore it in silence, and seemed only anxious not to

-obtrude his malady. We tempted him with the delicacies of the season,

-but it soon became impossible for him to eat, and for two weeks he ate

-or drank scarcely anything. Sometimes he made an effort to take

-something, but it was evident that he made the effort to please us. The

-neighbours--and I am convinced that the advice of neighbours is never

-good for anything--suggested catnip. He wouldn't even smell it. We had

-the attendance of an amateur practitioner of medicine, whose real office

-was the cure of souls, but nothing touched his case. He took what was

-offered, but it was with the air of one to whom the time for pellets was

-passed. He sat or lay day after day almost motionless, never once making

-a display of those vulgar convulsions or contortions of pain which are

-so disagreeable to society. His favourite place was on the brightest

-spot of a Smyrna rug by the conservatory, where the sunlight fell and he

-could hear the fountain play. If we went to him and exhibited our

-interest in his condition, he always purred in recognition of our

-sympathy. And when I spoke his name, he looked up with an expression

-that said, "I understand it, old fellow, but it's no use." He was to all

-who came to visit him a model of calmness and patience in affliction.

-

-I was absent from home at the last, but heard by daily postal-card of

-his failing condition; and never again saw him alive. One sunny morning,

-he rose from his rug, went into the conservatory (he was very thin

-then), walked around it deliberately, looking at all the plants he knew,

-and then went to the bay-window in the dining-room, and stood a long

-time looking out upon the little field, now brown and sere, and toward

-the garden, where perhaps the happiest hours of his life had been spent.

-It was a last look. He turned and walked away, laid himself down upon

-the bright spot in the rug, and quietly died.

-

-It is not too much to say that a little shock went through the

-neighbourhood when it was known that Calvin was dead, so marked was his

-individuality; and his friends, one after another, came in to see him.

-There was no sentimental nonsense about his obsequies; it was felt that

-any parade would have been distasteful to him. John, who acted as

-undertaker, prepared a candle-box for him, and I believe assumed a

-professional decorum; but there may have been the usual levity

-underneath, for I heard that he remarked in the kitchen that it was the

-"dryest wake he ever attended." Everybody, however, felt a fondness for

-Calvin, and regarded him with a certain respect. Between him and Bertha

-there existed a great friendship, and she apprehended his nature; she

-used to say that sometimes she was afraid of him, he looked at her so

-intelligently; she was never certain that he was what he appeared to be.

-

-When I returned, they had laid Calvin on a table in an upper chamber by

-an open window. It was February. He reposed in a candle-box, lined about

-the edge with evergreen, and at his head stood a little wine-glass with

-flowers. He lay with his head tucked down in his arms,--a favourite

-position of his before the fire,--as if asleep in the comfort of his

-soft and exquisite fur. It was the involuntary exclamation of those who

-saw him, "How natural he looks!" As for myself, I said nothing. John

-buried him under the twin hawthorn-trees,--one white and the other

-pink,--in a spot where Calvin was fond of lying and listening to the hum

-of summer insects and the twitter of birds.

-

-Perhaps I have failed to make appear the individuality of character that

-was so evident to those who knew him. At any rate, I have set down

-nothing concerning him but the literal truth. He was always a mystery. I

-did not know whence he came; I do not know whither he has gone. I would

-not weave one spray of falsehood in the wreath I lay upon his grave.

-

-                                                  CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.

-

-

-

-

-+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

-|                                                                      |

-| Transcriber's Note                                                   |

-|                                                                      |

-| Printer's errors have been corrected and hyphenation standardized.   |

-| The author's spelling has been maintained.                           |

-|                                                                      |

-|                                                                      |

-| Page number in Contents for Preface corrected from vii to ix.        |

-|                                                                      |

-| The following spelling corrections have been made:--                 |

-|                                                                      |

-| Page  41   'practise' to 'practice'. 'do not practice as a'          |

-|                                                                      |

-| Page  98   'necesssary' to 'necessary'. 'the door was not necessary'.|

-|                                                                      |

-| Page 122   'with' to 'which'. 'with that agility to which'.          |

-|                                                                      |

-| Page 125   'Accompaned' to 'Accompanied'. 'Accompanied by my lord'.  |

-|                                                                      |

-| Page 181   'undersood' to 'understood'. 'and so well understood'.    |

-|                                                                      |                                                                     |

-| Page 238   'icoseles' to 'isoceles'. 'a lean isoceles triangle'.     |

-|                                                                      |

-| Page 241   'obstrusive' to 'obtrusive'. 'the least obtrusive of      |

-|             beings'.                                                 |

-|                                                                      |

-+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

-

-

-

-

-

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