THE HOME PUSSIES 



269 



oldest and heaviest, finished his first, and after Hcking 

 his saucer quite clean, and then his owji lips, he looked 

 round and clearly said, "That was very good, and 

 please I should like a little more, especially fish and 

 cream." 



When they had all done there was a grand pur- 

 ring and washing of paws and faces before they got 

 off their stools, and as they dispersed to find cosy 

 sleeping-places, as wise pussies do after a comfortable 

 meal, we all thought that our little party had been 

 brilliantly successful, and had even some thoughts of 

 sending a report of it to the Morning Post, 



Many years ago, when Kew was a place of royal 

 residence, and my father was quartered there with 

 a detachment of his battalion (1st Batt. Grenadiers), 

 frequent were his drives Avith some brother officer 

 between Kew and London. And to beguile the tedium 

 of the way they would lay a mild bet on the number 

 of cats seen, each taking his own side of the road. 

 But a cat sitting in a window summarily decided the 

 game in favour of the one on whose side the pleasing 

 picture was displayed. 



And in my father's later years, when I used 

 to drive with him in the country, at the sight of 

 a pussy in a cottage window, his face would light 

 up with a merry twinkle, and I always expected 

 and never failed to hear the well-known formula, 

 " Cat in a window's Game ! " 



