the supposed imminence of her swift retreat, 

 he makes at her in a sudden onset. Then she, 

 surprised, but not discomfited, awaits his 

 coming, her lips drawn back, her eyes gleam- 

 ing defiance, her ears flattened down, and her 

 body tense. He, as he rushes, beholds her 

 standing fast and at the last he leaps aside to 

 right or left, either pretending that there is 

 no cat or trying to persuade others that some 

 pressing business, newly discovered, has drawn 

 him off his direct course. And in another 

 moment the cat is up a tree, hurling satire 

 down at her baffled enemy. And the strange 

 thing is that, within the house, these two may 

 be on terms of easy friendship, lying on the 

 same rug and even lapping from the same 

 dish. 



% To be sure it was on a garden seat that 

 Swinburne was sitting when he addressed his 

 beautiful lines to a cat: 



Stately, kindly, lordly friend, 



Condescend 



Here to sit by me, and turn 

 40 



