Concerning my Other Cats 



many steps, lo ! Thomas Erastus is behind or beside 

 us, proudly escorting his mistresses home, but looking 

 neither at them, nor to the right or left. Not until 

 he reaches the porch does he allow himself to be 

 petted. But on our way to the cars his attitude is 

 different. He is as frisky as a kitten. In vain do 

 we try to "shoo" him back, or catch him. He 

 prances along, just out of reach, but tantalizingly 

 close ; when we get aboard our car, we know he 

 is safe in some corner gazing sadly after us, and 

 that no danger can drive him home until we re- 

 appear. 



Both Thomas and Pompanita take a deep interest 

 in all household affairs, although in this respect 

 they do not begin to show the curiosity of the Pretty 

 Lady. Never a piece of furniture was changed in 

 the house that she did not immediately notice, the 

 first time she came into the room afterward; and 

 she invariably jumped up on the article and thoroughly 

 investigated affairs before settling down again. Every 

 parcel that came in must be examined, and afterward 

 she must lie on the paper or inside the box that it 

 came in, always doing this with great solemnity and 

 gazing earnestly out of her large, intelUgent dark eyes. 

 Toward the close of her life she was greatly troubled 

 at any unusual stir in the household. She liked to 

 have company, but nothing disturbed her more than 

 to have a man working in the cellar, putting in coal, 

 cutting wood, or doing such work. She used then 



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