258 The Book of Cats. 



imagined when, on reference being made to the 

 Cat-cupboard, to see how Topsy and her two young 

 charges were getting on, to find no Topsy at all, — 

 only the strange Cat and the two Kittens. How 

 the cheat had been accomplished, it was impossible 

 to say. That Topsy was not the Cat placed in the 

 basket was vouched for by two witnesses — one of 

 them had held the basket-lid open while the other 

 pushed the animal in. 



" Perhaps, in my own mind, I have little doubt 

 how the business was so mulled, but I know that 

 in certain quarters there exists a belief, either that 

 by some sort of witchery the strange Cat put on so 

 Topsical an appearance as to deceive her would-be 

 smugglers, or that, after she was basketed, she 

 managed to sneak out, and either by persuasion 

 or force induced the unlucky Topsy to take her 

 place. 



" However it came about, the result is, that the 

 strange Cat alone reigns at our house, to the jealous 

 exclusion of all her species. No one, I believe, has 

 any particular affection for her, but that circum- 

 stance is not observed to prey on her mind or to 

 interfere with her appetite. She devours her rations 

 with the air of a Cat that is conscious that she has 

 earned them, and as though she is aware, and rather 



