THE RAT 



'THIS COMES hopping' 



Of course, we do not really hop at the very beginning 

 of our lives. No rat is ever allowed to hop until 

 he has done something which compels him to hop. 

 I, for instance, have lost one of my fore-paws, and 

 so I am what we call ' a hopper.' I believe that 

 you call it 'a marquis.' At any rate, it means that 

 I am a person of some considerable importance. In 

 fact, I am even more important than that, because 

 I have only half a tail. Therefore you can never 

 be quite so dignified as I am. A cousin of mine, 

 who is writing the biography of a man, says that 

 marquises do hop, because they live on port-wine, 

 which gives them something called * gout,' and that 

 this is almost as dignified as losing a paw. But he 

 knows more about men than I do, and a very great 

 deal more than ever I want to know. To be quite 



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