THE DOMESTIC CAT. 
31 
CHAPTER n. 
THE DOMESTIC CAT. 
The next evening the children assembled 
themselves in the parlour after tea, instead 
of running out to play as usual; and Mr. 
Winston looked around surprised as he saw 
them all sitting quietly down as if prepared 
to listen. 
•“What is the meaning of this?” he 
asked. “ What has made you so sedate all 
at once ?” 
“We are going to hear some stories, 
grandfather,’’ replied Sidney. ‘ 6 Aunt Louisa 
is going to tell us about beasts of prey.” 
Annie looked as if she thought Sidney’s 
manner of stating the case hardly dignified 
enough. 
“Hot stories exactly, grandfather, but a 
sort of lectures upon Natural History. 
She told us about the divisions last night.” 
