de bons regards devoues qui se tournaient vers 

 1'homme pour demander son aide contre 

 d'injustes et d'inexplicables souffrances" in 

 the midst of this story he turns aside to give 

 the cat a cuff: "J e ne parle pas du chat pour 

 qui nous ne sommes qu'une proie trop grosse 

 et immangeable, du chat feroce dont Foblique 

 dedain ne nous tolere que cornme des parasites 

 encombrants dans notre propre logis. Lui 

 du moins nous maudit dans son coeur mys- 

 terieux." Lui! M. Maeterlinck is wrong 

 en detail as well as en gros. In spite of the 

 French language, the cat ought not to be 

 spoken of generically as a male. There are, 

 no doubt, particular Toms, but the general 

 cat is of the feminine gender, and it is by the 

 feminine pronoun that I shall refer to her. 

 And on the main point the judgment is mon- 

 strously wild and violent. As a first step in 

 the process of disproof I submitted this pain- 

 ful passage to Fluffy, who has shared my home 

 for seventeen years, still keeping a gallant 

 bearing against the attacks of time and pro- 



36 



