THE CAT TRIUMPHANT 155 



of a reserved nature, presenting invariably the same 

 cold insolence of demeanour, the same " heartless 

 and deliberate rudeness " to all church dignitaries 

 save Liddon, whom he loved to distraction, and 

 whom it was his delight to entertain with acrobatic 

 feats. He would jump upon a bust of Dr. Busby 

 which stood on a bracket near the door, balance 

 himself for one instant upon that severe and rever- 

 ent brow, take a flying leap to the mantelpiece, and 

 returning, land with exquisite and unvarying accu- 

 racy on the bust, repeating this performance as 

 often as his master desired. Liddon's great amuse- 

 ment was to stand with his back to the bracket, and 

 fling a biscuit at Dr. Busby's head, the cat catching 

 it dexterously, and without losing his precarious 

 foothold. 



One shivers even now at the thought of any man 

 who. had once been a little boy, or of any cat who 

 had once been a little kitten, taking such unpardon- 

 able liberties with Dr. Busby. His awful shadow 

 looms dark and terrible in the history of childhood. 

 The brilliant scholars, the successful statesmen, the 

 pious and learned divines whom his rod had assisted 

 to eminence, trembled secretly when they heard his 

 name ; yet here were a canon and his cat encour- 

 aging each other in ribald acts of desecration. Was 

 there no lesser light whose " animated bust " could 

 have served as a pedestal for athletic sports ? 



