i8 A DEAF CAT. 



price was low and the cat " a beauty," both in form, coat, 

 and tail, his eyes were yellow, and he had a nice, meek, 

 mild, expressive face. I stopped and looked at him, as he 

 much took my fancy. He stared at me wistfully, with some- 

 thing like melancholy in the gaze of his ^w^^^'-coloured eyes. 

 I put my hand through the bars of the cage. He purred, 

 licked my hand, rubbed against the wires, put his tail up, as 

 much as to say, " See, here is a beautiful tail ; am I not a 

 lovely cat?" "Yes," thought I, "a very nice cat." When 

 I looked at my catalogue and saw the low price, " something 

 is wrong here," said I, musingly. "Yes, there must be 

 something wrong. The price is misstated, or there is some- 

 thing not right about this cat." No ! it was a beauty — so 

 comely, so loving, so gentle — so very gentle. " Well," 

 said I to myself, "if there is no misstatement of price, I 

 will buy this cat," and, with a parting survey of its ex- 

 cellences, I went to the office of the show manager. He 

 looked at the letter of entry. No ; the price was quite right — 

 "two guineas!" "I will buy it," said I. And so I did; 

 but at two guineas I bought it dearly. Yes ! very dearly, 

 for when I got it home I found it was " stone " deaf. What 

 an unhappy cat it was ! If shut out of the dining-room 

 you could hear its cry for admission all over the house; 

 being so deaf the poor wretched creature never knew the 

 noise it made. I often wish that it had so known — 

 very, very often. I am satisfied that a tithe would have 

 frightened it out of its life. And so loving, so affectionate. 

 But, oh ! horror, when it called out as it sat on my lap, its 

 voice seemed to acquire at least ten cat power. And when, 

 if it lost sight of me in the garden, its voice rose to the 

 occasion, I feel confident it might have been heard miles 

 off. Alas ! he never knew what that agonised sound was 

 like, but I did, and I have never forgotten it, and I never 

 shall. I named him " The Colonel " on account of his 

 commanding voice. 



One morning a friend came — blessed be that day — and 

 after dinner he saw " the beauty." " What a lovely cat ! " 

 said he. " Yes," said I, " he is very beautiful, quite a 



