136 



THE RAT 



little dry grass to make a bed for the poor old 

 fellow, for whom I was beginning to feel a renewal 

 of affection now that I was on the point of leaving 

 him. 



I was not underground for many minutes, and 

 the premises seemed to be roomy and convenient ; 

 but when I returned to the cool air of evening 

 my companion was gone : he had utterly vanished 

 from the face of the earth, and to this day his fate 

 is a mystery to me. Had Fortune, that capricious 

 lady, after bringing him in safety to the end of his 

 long wanderings, abandoned him at the very door 

 of his last quiet home of rest, and handed him over 

 to the remorseless grip of some evil bird or beast ? 

 Or had some strange spirit of independence, such 

 as often seems to awaken in the hearts of the aged 

 and infirm, urged him to fly from me, his newly- 

 found guardian and protector, and to arrange the 

 little of his life that was left in his own way ? 

 Who knows from what domestic tyranny he had 

 escaped when he undertook the long pilgrimage, a 

 return to which he may have dreaded ? I shall 

 never know for certain, but I greatly fear that 

 some sudden misfortune swept him away from his 

 threshold and hurried him into his long rest. I 

 have seen Fortune play so many strange tricks on 



