\ 
as «4 
yoN 
te MEER . P 
oa OL 
( | er a \ ike Nee : ss) J 
ca 
The Slum Cat 
was a repellent desert of lifeless, disgusting gar- 
dens and hay-fields, without a single tenement 
or smoke-stack in sight. How she did hate it all! 
There was only one sweet-smelling shrub in the 
whole horrible place, and that was in a neglected 
corner. She did enjoy nipping that and rolling 
in the leaves; it was a bright spot inthe grounds ; 
but the only one, for she had not found a rot- 
ten fish-head nor seen a genuine garbage-can 
since she came, and altogether it was the most 
unlovely, unattractive, unsmellable spot she had 
ever known. She would surely have gone that 
first night had she had the liberty. The liberty 
was weeks in coming, and, meanwhile, her affin- 
ity with the cook had developed as a bond to 
keep her; but one day after a summer of dis- 
content a succession of things happened to stir 
anew the slum instinct of the royal prisoner. 
A great bundle of stuff from the docks had 
reached the country mansion. What it con- 
tained was of little moment, but it was rich 
with a score of the most piquant and winsome 
of dock and slum smells. The chords of 
memory surely dwell in the nose, and Pussy’s 
past was conjured up with dangerous force. 
54 
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