A (XttTTENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW. 115 



savage is Smith. He's afraid that his family, his mangy old 

 pointer and dropsical cat, will suffer in his absence." 



" I scorn to answer such an accusation," retorted Smith, 

 " I shall treat it with dignified contempt, as I do the Doc- 

 tor's medicines, which I never take but always pay for, just 

 to k6ep him from starving, and to make him imagine he cures 

 me. But speaking of cats reminds me of a certain matter 

 which occurred not many years ago. The Doctor here, if 

 his testimony could be relied upon, knows that I used to 

 be troubled with indigestion, and was sometimes a little 

 nervous " 



"A-littk nervous 1" interrupted the Doctor, " why he would 

 be as crazy with the hypo as a March hare. He would in- 

 sist that he was going to die, or to the almshouse. He has 

 made two or three dozen wills, to my certain knowledge, 

 under the firm conviction that he would be in the ground in 

 a week. A titik nervous, indeed!" 



"Well," said Smith, "we won't quarrel about the degree 

 of my nervousness. But in regard to what I was going to 

 say about cats. Some years ago I occupied a suite of rooms 

 in the second story of a house rented by a widow lady, to 

 whom I had been under some obligations in my boyhood, 

 and whom my mother always regarded as her best friend." 

 (Smith supported the excellent old lady in comfort for a 

 decade, under pretence of boarding with her, ministering to 

 the last years of her life with the care and affection of a 

 son.) " The landlord of the premises was the owner of a 

 block of twelve houses six on Pearl street, and six on 



