by the nape of my neck, holding me
as far off from him as he could, for the soft soap ran off my legs and
tail in streams. He carried me up into the kitchen, and put me down in
the middle of the floor, and then they all stood round me, and laughed
again, so loud that they waked up the cook, who came running out of
her bedroom with her tin candlestick and a chair in her hand, thinking
that robbers were breaking in. At last your dear mother said, "Poor
pussy, it is too bad to laugh at you, when you are in such pain" (I had
been thinking so for some time). "Mary, bring the small washtub. The
only thing we can do is to wash her."

When I heard this, I almost wished they had left me to drown in the soft
soap; for if there is any thing of which I have a mortal dread, it is
water. However, I was too weak to resist; and they plunged me in all
over, into the tub full of ice-cold water, and Mary began to rub me
with her great rough hands, which, I assure you, are very different from
yours and your mother's. Then they all laughed again to see the white
lather it made; in two minutes the whole tub was as white as the water
under the mill-wheel that you and I have so often been together to see.
You can imagine how my eyes smarted. I burnt my paws once in getting a
piece of beefsteak out of the coals where it had fallen off the
gridiron, but the pain of that was nothing to this. You will hardly
believe me when I tell you that they had to empty the tub and fill it
again ten times before the soap was all washed out of my fur. By that
time I was so cold and exhausted, that I could not move, and they began
to think I should die. But your mother rolled me up in one of your old
flannel petticoats, and made a nice bed for me behind the stove. By this
time even Mary began to seem sorry for me, though she was very cross at
first, and hurt me much more than she need to in washing me; now she
said, "You're nothing but a poor beast of a cat, to be sure; but it's
mesilf that would be sorry to have the little mistress come back, and
find ye kilt." So you see your love for me did me service, even when
you were so far away. I doubt very much whether they would have ever
taken the trouble to nurse me through this sickness, except for your
sake. But I must leave the rest for my next letter. I am not strong
enough yet to write more than two hours at a time.

Your affectionate Pussy.

[Illustration: "Judge Dickinson's cat, who is a good hos