THE CAT 



Don Pierrot de Navarre 



Pierrot received his name in kittenhood, on 

 account of his immaculate whiteness. His title 

 was added later, and was a tribute to his size and 

 majesty of demeanour. He had a charming dis- 

 position, and shared our family life with an inti- 

 macy which is possible only to cats who are treated 

 with gentleness and consideration. Sitting close 

 to the fire, he seemed always interested in the con- 

 versation, and now and then, as he looked from one 

 speaker to another, he would give a little protesting 

 mew, as though in remonstrance to some opinion 

 which he could not bring himself to share. He 

 adored books, and whenever he found one open on 

 the table, he would sit down by it, look attentively 

 at the printed page, turn over a leaf or two, and 

 finally fall asleep, for all the world as if he had 

 been trying to read a modern novel. As soon as 

 he saw me sit down to write, he would jump on my 

 desk, and watch the crooked and fantastic figures 

 which my pen scattered over the paper, turning his 

 head every time I began a fresh line. Sometimes 

 it occurred to him to take a part in my work, and 

 then he would make little clutches at my pen, with 

 the evident design of writing a page or so ; for he 

 was an aesthetic cat like Hoffman's Murr, and I 



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