'A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS' 



217 



pede began, as pussy set me down on the floor and 

 commenced to play with me after the manner of 

 her kind. That stampede saved me. One active 

 damsel reached a precarious resting-place on the 

 top of the piano ; others sought safety upon chairs 

 and tables ; and one stout matron, whose years and 

 girth forbad her to climb, staggered towards the 

 door. I saw my chance, as pussy was a trifle 

 distracted by the uproar, and with a bound I 

 passed under her voluminous skirts. ' Oh, Mrs. 

 Tucker,' shrieked someone, * he's under your dress !' 

 That was too much for my involuntary protectress, 

 and with a gi^oan of agony she collapsed heavily in 

 the very doorway. As luck would have it, I was 

 not crushed into a pancake, and I emerged on the 

 further side of the stately wreckage, and fled down 

 a passage through an open door, and out into 

 the comparative safety of the shrubberies. That 

 stranded hulk effectually blocked the mouth of the 

 harbour, and my clever captor was unable even to 

 pursue, much less to overtake me. I fear that the 

 kittens missed their lesson, but I blessed a kindly 

 Providence which had planted timidity in the 

 female breast, and weakness in the knees of elderly 

 dowagers when under the stress of a great emotion. 

 But I w^as careful to put a great many fields 



