THE CAT: 



that my eyes were mirrors in which her troubled 

 soul must study my good or bad designs. It is 

 terrifying to think how near an animal is to us 

 when it can realize such things. 



For the first time I looked attentively at the little 

 visitor who for two weeks had shared my lodgings. 

 She was tawny as a wild hare, and striped like a 

 tiger. Her face and neck were white. Certainly 

 an ugly and a miserable cat ; but her very ugliness 

 had in it something strange and appealing, some- 

 thing which contrasted pleasantly with the comely 

 cats of France. Her movements were stealthy and 

 sinuous, her great ears stood erect, her tail was 

 long and ragged, her eyes alone were beautiful, the 

 deep golden eyes of the East, restless and full of 

 expression. 



While I watched her, I carelessly laid my hand 

 on her head, and stroked the yellow fur. It was 

 hot mere physical pleasure she felt in the caress, 

 but a sense of protection, of sympathy in her 

 abandonment. It was for this she had crept from 

 her hiding-place ; it was for this, and not for food 

 and drink, that she had come, wistful and terrified, 

 to beg. Her little cat soul implored some com- 

 pany, some friendship in a lonely world. 



Where had she learned this need, poor outcast, 

 never before touched by a kindly hand, never the 



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