THE CAT TRIUMPHANT 151 



as the back of my chair. Yet it will gratify you to 

 know that a favourite cat keeps him in the greatest 

 possible "order, insists upon all rights of precedence, 

 and scratches with impunity the nose of an animal 

 who would make no bones of a wolf, and pulls down 

 a red deer without fear or difficulty. I heard my 

 friend set up some most piteous howls, and I assure 

 you the noise was no joke, all occasioned by his 

 fear of passing Puss, who had stationed himself on 

 the stairs." 



That other dogs were less forbearing than Maida, 

 Hinse found to his cost, when Nimrod arrived to 

 share the wide hospitality of Abbotsford. Maida's 

 tolerance extended to all creatures, save deer, that 

 he had been trained to hunt, and artists, whom he 

 hated because of the weary hours spent in sitting 

 for his portraits. The mere sight of a palette or a 

 box of colours would send him yawning from the 

 room. But Rinse's vanity was stimulated by hav- 

 ing his picture hung on the library wall, and by the 

 ever increasing respect and affection in which he 

 was held. When his placid career came to its 

 tragic close, Scott wrote to Richardson words of 

 genuine regret. — " Alack - a - day ! my poor cat, 

 Hinse, my acquaintance, and, in some sort, my 

 friend of fifteen years, was snapped at even by that 

 paynim Nimrod. What could I say to him, but 

 what Brant6me said to some ferrailleur who had 



