d come to see him, "she
is so deaf she can't hear the noise she makes."

Of course, I understood what he said, but she hadn't yet picked up a
word of English; and if the master _had_ begun to learn Persian, I don't
suppose he had got much beyond the alphabet.

The Persian's mew was rather feebler that day, because she had a cold.

"I don't think it's so bad," said his friend. "If you really wanted to
get rid of her, she is very handsome; she would take a prize anywhere."

"She is yours," said the master instantly; and the strange gentleman
took her away in a basket.

That evening it was I who sat on my master's knee--I who superintended
the writing of his letters on the green-covered writing table--I who
had all the milk that was left over from his tea.

In a few days he had a letter. I read it when he laid it down; and if
you don't believe cats can read, I can only say that it is just as easy
to read a letter like the master's as it is to write a story like this.
The letter begged my master to take back the fair Persian.

"Her howls," the letter went on, "become worse and worse. The poor
creature is, as you say, too deaf to be tolerated."

My master wrote back instantly to say that he would rather be condemned
to keep a dog than have the fair Persian within his doors again.

Then by return of post came a pitiful letter, begging for help and
mercy, and the friend came again to tea. I trembled lest my foreign
rival should come back to live with me. But she didn't. The next morning
my master took me on his knee, and, stroking me gently, said--

"Ah, Tabbykins! no more Persians for us. I have sent her to my deaf
aunt. She will be delighted with her--a most handsome present--and as
they are both deaf, the fair Persian's shrieks will hurt nobody.

"But I will have no more prize cats," he said, pouring out some cream
for me in his own saucer. "You know how to behave; I will never have any
cat but you."

I do, and he never has.

A Powerful Friend

MY mother was the best of cats. She washed us kittens all over every
morning, and at odd times during the day she would wash little bits of
us, say an ear, or a paw, or a tail-tip, and she was very anxious about
our education. I am afraid I gave her a great deal of trouble, for I was
rather stout and heavy, and did not take a very active or graceful part
in the exercises which she thought good for us.

Our gymnasium was the kitchen hearth-rug. There was alway