CHAPTER XXII 



THE SHORT-HAIRED BLACK CAT 



CONTRARY to the popular opinion, what I should call a 

 real black cat is not by any means an everyday specimen 

 to be met with. Scores of times I have been told of grand 

 black cats, which when they came to be handled were not 

 all black, but had a white speck somewhere, either on the 

 neck, chin, chest, or one of the feet, and even at the tip of 

 the tail. 



Numbers of the colour fail in their eyes, in respect of 

 size, shape, and especially their colour. I think I am not 

 overstepping the mark if I say not one black cat in a 

 hundred is perfect in this point. 



One of the best I ever saw belonged to a friend of 

 mine, a well-known fancier ; it was a stray, " come by 

 chance," of whose previous history nothing was known, 

 but when it was offered to him my friend planked down 

 five sovereigns for it without any hesitation, though I 

 expect it was the highest price ever reached for a short- 

 haired black cat, and I saw it again and again with first 

 and special prize cards on its pen. 



Another point in which this variety is often defective 

 is the tail, which should be moderately long and fairly 

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