io6 IN A CHESHIRE GARDEN 



She had evidently observed the manner of 

 opening a door, for when she wanted to get 

 into a room she used to rattle at the handle. 

 One day she came and rattled at the door- 

 handle of the study where I was sitting, but 

 instead of coming in when the door was 

 opened, she led me to the drawing-room, and 

 standing up put her paw on the handle of 

 the door : as plainly as possible she had 

 fetched me to let her in. 



Now although this cat was made a great 

 deal of with us and seemed to have a strong 

 personal affection for me, spending most of 

 her time with me, one fine day she took 

 herself off and disappeared altogether. 



As weeks went by and we heard nothing 

 of her we concluded she had met with the fate 

 to which pitiless game preservation has con- 

 signed many another cat. But after about 

 three months I saw her in the garden, when 

 though she followed me she refused to be 

 touched. For weeks again we never set eyes 

 on her, and we almost came to believe that 

 it was her wraith I had seen. At last I 

 happened to notice her sitting outside a 

 cottage not 200 yards from this house, by 

 which I passed almost every day of my life, 

 but though she looked up when I called her 

 by name she would not come to me. After a 

 year or two she very frequently came into the 

 garden and was willing enough to be stroked, 

 but she never entered this house again until 



