SOME CATS OF FRANCE 183 



when a dog stands ever ready to give us his faithful 

 heart, without condition or reserve ? 



Why, indeed, save that some of us most desire 

 that which is difficult to obtain ; that some of us 

 value most that which we fear to lose. When with 

 delicate blandishments we have beguiled a cat from 

 her reserve, when she responds, coyly at first, and 

 then with graceful abandon to our advances, when 

 the soft fur brushes our cheek, when the gleam- 

 ing eyes narrow sleepily, and the murmurous purr 

 betrays the sweetness of her content, we feel like 

 a lover who has warily and with infinite precaution 

 stolen from his capricious mistress the first tender 

 token of possible surrender. One cannot woo a cat 

 after the fashion of the Conqueror. Courtesy, tact, 

 patience are needed at every step ; and it may hap- 

 pen that when the victory seems fairly won, and 

 we think the wayward little animal is about to 

 spring upon our knee, she turns aside instead with 

 pointed coldness, retreats to the other end of the 

 room, and either demands to have the door opened 

 that she may escape from our presence, or coils 

 herself with humped and displeased back in some 

 shadowy corner where she may forget that we 

 exist. This is perhaps what Sir Thomas Browne 

 called " four-footed manners," but Pussy is never 

 rude. She contrives, on the contrary, to convey 

 the impression that it is the offensive nature of our 



