Concerning the ^^ Pretty Lady" 



she kept him on the foot of the bed, where she nursed, 

 and lapped, and scrubbed him until it seemed as if she 

 must wear even his stolid nerves completely out 

 But whenever she felt like going out she brought him 

 up and tucked him away in the hollow of my neck, 

 with a little guttural noise that, interpreted, meant : — 



" There, now you take care of him awhile. I'm all 

 tired out Don't wake him up." 



But when the infant had dropped soimdly asleep, 

 she invariably came back and demanded him; and 

 not only demanded, but dragged him forth from his 

 lair by the nape of the neck, shrieking and protesting, 

 to the foot of the bed again, where he was obUged to 

 go through another course of scrubbing and vigorous 

 maternal attentions that actually kept his fur from 

 growing as fast as the coats of less devotedly cared- 

 for kittens grow. 



When I was well enough to leave my room, she 

 transferred him to my lower bureau drawer, and then 

 to a vantage-point behind an old loimge. But she 

 never doubted, apparently, that it was the loan of that 

 kitten that rescued me from an untimely grave. 



I have lost many an hour of much-needed sleep 

 from my cat's habit of coming upstairs at four a.m. 

 and jumping suddenly upon the bed ; perhaps landing 

 on the pit of my stomach. Waking in that fashion, 

 unsympathetic persons would have pardoned me if I 

 had indulged in injudicious language, or had even 

 thrown the cat violently from my otherwise peaceful 



'5 



