172 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



Mrs. Carlyle his own excellent mouser, if she could 

 tolerate " a cat with a bad heart." Apparently she 

 could n't ; but preferred one that was admittedly 

 clever, though "of an unsettled turn of mind." 

 This beast, wise in its restlessness, withdrew after 

 a brief experience ; and was followed by " a kitten, 

 black as soot, — a most agile kitten, and wonder- 

 fully confiding." 



Dear little kit ! How long she stayed, or was per- 

 mitted to stay, we do not know. There is but one 

 more letter on the subject, and that one is not in- 

 cluded in the published volumes. It was unearthed 

 recently, and printed in the " Glasgow News." Its 

 recipient was Mrs. Carlyle's maid, Jessie, of whom, 

 in other epistles, she makes bitter complaint ; but 

 with whom she appears to have corresponded on 

 the most intimate and animated terms. Writing 

 from Folkestone, whither she has gone for sea air, 

 she implores Jessie to have everything in readiness 

 for Mr. Carlyle's return. He is visiting his brother 

 in Annandale, and she has been trying hard to per- 

 suade him to remain there, or at Aldersley Park, 

 for another week. 



" I hold out the inducement that I should be in 

 London, after Monday the twenty-eighth, to welcome 

 him. But I don't know. Man is born to contra- 

 diction, as the sparks fly upward. The very per- 

 suasion that he should absent himself a few days 



