The Real Charlotte. 19 



time that the spare bedroom had been anything else than an 

 hospital, a nursery, and a secure parliament house for him 

 and his descendants ; yet now, in his old age, and when he 

 had, after vast consideration of alternatives, allocated to 

 himself the lowest shelf of the wardrobe as a sleeping place, 

 he was evicted at a moment's notice, and the folded-away 

 bed curtains that had formed his couch were even now per- 

 fuming the ambient air as they hung out of the window over 

 the hall door. Susan was too dignified to give utterance to 

 his wounded feelings ; he went away by himself, and sitting 

 on the roof of the fowl-house, thought unutterable things 

 But his great-niece, Mrs. Bruff, could not emulate his 

 stoicism. Followed by her five latest kittens, she strode 

 through the house, uttering harsh cries of rage and despair, 

 and did not cease from her lamentations until Charlotte 

 brought the whole party into the drawing-room, and estab- 

 lished them in the waste-paper basket. 



The worst part about the upheaval, as even the youngest 

 and least experienced of the cats could see, was that it was 

 irrevocable. It was early morning when the first dull blow 

 of Norry's broom against the wainscot had startled them 

 with new and strange apprehension, and incredulity had 

 grown to certainty, till the final moment when the sight of a 

 brimming pail of water urged them to panic-struck flight. 

 It may be admitted that Norry the Boat, who had not, as a 

 rule, any special taste for cleanliness, had seldom enjoyed 

 anything more than this day of turmoil, this routing of her 

 ancient enemies. Miss Charlotte, to whom on ordinary 

 occasions the offended cat never appealed in vain, was now 

 bound by her own word. She had given orders that the 

 spare room was to be '^ cleaned down," and cleaned down 

 it surely should be. It was not, strictly speaking, Norry's 

 work. Louisa was house and parlour-maid ; Louisa, a 

 small and sullen Protestant orphan of unequalled sluggish- 

 ness and stupidity, for whose capacity for dealing with any 

 emergency Norry had a scorn too deep for any words that 

 might conveniently be repeated here. It was not likely 

 that Louisa would be permitted to join in the ardours of the 

 campaign, when even Bid Sal, Norry's own special kitchen- 

 slut and co-religionist, was not allowed to assist. 



Norry the Boat, daughter of Shaunapickeen, the ferryman 



