r, and the letter lay on my
mantel-piece till I came home and found that he and Nipper had broken a
chair-leg, and two china plates."

"_Did_ they kill the mouse?"

"Well, no. But I nearly killed Nipper in saving him; and the little
rascal has lived with me ever since."

The ladies seemed highly delighted with this anecdote, but, for my own
part, I felt feverish to the tips of my claws, as I thought of the
miserable creature who had usurped the place I wished to fill, and who
might be the means of my having to fall back after all on the Deserted
Cats' Fund. What bungling puss had had him under her paws, and allowed
him to escape with a torn ear and the wariness of experience? Let me but
once catch sight of that twitching tail!----

At this moment the gentleman got up, stretched his long----

But I will _not_ allude to them! It annoys me as much as the thought of
that bungling cat, or of Nipper's baulked attempt. He put up his hands
and lifted me from his shoulder, and my heart sank as he said, "If I am
to catch my train, I fear I must say good-bye."

I believe that, in this hopeless crisis, my fur as usual was in my
favour. He rubbed his cheek against mine before putting me down, and
then said, "And you've not told me, after all, where poor Toots is
really going."

"We have not found a home for him yet, I assure you," said my mistress.
"Our washerwoman wants him, and she is a most kind-hearted and
respectable person, but she has got nine children, and----"

"Nine children!" ejaculated my friend, "My poor Toots, there will not be
an inch of that magnificent tail of yours left at the end of a week.
What cruelty to animals! Upon my word, I'd almost rather take Toots
myself, than think of him with a washerwoman and nine children. Eh,
Toots! would you like to come?"

I was on the carpet, rubbing against his--yes, long or short, they were
_his_, and he was kind to me!--rubbing, I say, against his legs. I could
get no impetus for a spring, but I scrambled straight up him as one
would scramble up a tree (my grandmother was a bird-catcher of the first
talent, and I inherit her claws), and uttered one pitiful mew.

The gentleman gave a short laugh, and took me into his arms.

"Oh, _how_ good of you! Jones shall get a hamper," cried the ladies. But
he shook his head.

"Three of the fourteen parcels I've got to pick up at the station are
hampers. I wouldn't have another on my mind for a fortune. If Toots
comes at all