68 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



to understand the first rudiments of the noble art 

 of cooking. Rich merchants enjoyed the delights 

 of ostentation, and the great middle class studied 

 its own comfort with commendable industry. An 

 air of well-being spread over the towns, and, in 

 favoured lands like England, extended itself even to 

 the peasantry. Lazy and luke-warm antagonisms 

 supplanted the old fiery intolerance. Life grew 

 softer, sweeter, replete with self-indulgence and 

 self-satisfaction. All things were working harmoni- 

 ously for the reestablishment of the cat in popular 

 esteem. " The time had arrived," says M. Havard 

 prettily, "for her to profit by new and gracious con- 

 ditions. She became once more the assiduous guest 

 of a courteous and companionable society." 



It is in France that we find the first distinct 

 proofs of Pussy's return to favour ; in France, where 

 the persecution of the peasant had yielded to the 

 love and pity of the prince, and where she was des- 

 tined, in later years, to rule over loyal hearts. 

 Indeed, M. Gautier always affirmed that only a 

 Frenchman could understand the fine and subtle 

 qualities of a cat. Nevertheless, it was very cau- 

 tiously that she ventured, with many a soft and shy 

 intrusion, to establish herself by friendly hearths. 

 Centuries of cruel injustice weighed upon her 

 spirits, and there were still men who shrank with 

 abhorrence from her panther-like beauty and grace. 



