THE HALF-MONKEY. 



45 



room, he cowered and clung to his friend as if 

 frightened out of his wits. Fond as he was of 

 society, he was exceedingly nervous about it. 

 When he heard a person coming through the 

 hall, he first ran to the end of a sofa nearest the 

 door; as the steps approached, he grew more 

 and more uneasy ; and when the hand touched 

 the door-knob, he yielded to wild panic, bounded 

 to the other end of the sofa and over the back, 

 where he held by one hand, while his body 

 dangled behind. 



His great sensitiveness showed also in another 

 way ; he never met a human eye with his own. 

 He saw every expression of the face, but he 

 always looked just beyond it. He violently ob- 

 jected to being stared at, turned his head away, 

 and, if his head were held between two hands 

 for the purpose of looking in his face, he got 

 away, either by a sudden spring to the top of 

 the head of his captor, or by wriggling himself 

 out backward. His wool-covered body it was 

 almost impossible to hold. 



But although the little fellow would not look 

 one squarely in the face, he saw everything that 

 happened, and was as inquisitive as any monkey. 

 He liked to sit before the window and look at 

 passers-by, both beast and human ; a cat he 

 saluted by a short, sharp bark. A bugle that 

 was brought out proved most interesting. He 



