MISCHIEVOUS IMAGINATIONS 



81 



little ' hide,' like a plum-pudding that has lost its 

 raisins. 



And yet it seems only the other day that I saw 

 my old friend, — William, Esq., H.T., sitting in 

 quite an ordinary cage. There had been no attempt 

 to hide it, which always makes them rather more 

 dangerous, no covering up wdth sticks or dead 

 leaves or bits of carpet, no empty boxes piled 

 about. It had been just dumped down anyhow, 

 and I could smell the evil odour of man all over it. 

 I asked William how it had all happened, and he 

 was quite rude and told me to mind my own busi- 

 ness, and so I felt bound to go on talking to him 

 out of self-respect. I told him that old rats, who 

 had lost the power of smell, ought not to be 

 allowed out of doors without their wives to look 

 after them. That made him show his ugly old 

 teeth. Then I asked him whether he was so tired 

 of life that he had made up his mind to commit 

 suicide, and he naturally answered that, if he could 

 only get out, he would make me want to commit 

 ten suicides before he had quite done with me. 

 The poor old fellow looked really so ashamed of 

 himself, in spite of his angry temper, that I felt 

 a bit sorry for him, and tried my best to help him ; 

 but the bars were too hard even for my strong 



6 



