WHEN it was discovered that the stable-cat had 
a litter of kittens in the hayloft, sentence of death 
was pronounced immediately, and before noon three 
little grey corpses floated in the horse pond. The 
fourth kitten, the kitten, with whom this history 
deals, was actually in the water, when the cook 
came by and begged for his life in order that he 
might later rid the kitchen of mice, in spite of the 
gardener's assertion that ' Thim wild cats had a 
divil in thim as big as an ass, an' would niver quit 
ramblinY However, in his early days, Grimalkin 
showed no signs of any such demoniacal possession. 
He was a strangely sedate kitten. Possibly his 
narrow escape had affected his spirits, for he spent 
his days in eating such scraps as came in his way, 
in sleeping, and in evading the flying feet of the 
