32 TOMMY AND PEARLIE. 



parties of poor people in the garden, and Tommy 

 was led about with a long string, greatly to the 

 delight of my visitors. The lemur was in no 

 way frightened by the crowd ; he made friends 

 with everybody, and hopped about from one 

 group to another quite at his ease. After a 

 time a harp and violin began to sound, and 

 then Tommy's love of music became apparent, for 

 he seated himself close to the players, and there 

 he remained quite riveted by the unusual sounds, 

 gazing intently at the harpist as if spellbound. 



They were but village musicians, and I was not 

 a little surprised when, on my remarking how 

 music was appreciated by the lemur, one of the 

 men remarked, " It keeps reminding me of King 

 Robert of Sicily and his ' solemn ape.' " One 

 hardly expected such a knowledge of Longfellow's 

 poetry in a country rustic ! 



It is not the first time I have been scared by 

 the display of unlooked-for intelligence, as the 

 following anecdote will show. 



Many years ago I was talking to my cook on 

 culinary matters in the dining-room, when she 

 suddenly looked up at a majolica plate over the 



