k-minded. His age protected his impudence. I turned my back on him.
Then my eyes fell on the cat again. She was still gazing earnestly at
me.

"Disgusted that she should take such pointed public notice of me, I
wondered whether other people saw it; I wondered whether there was
anything peculiar in my own personal appearance. How hard the creature
stared! It was most embarrassing.

"'What has got into that cat?' I thought. 'It's sheer impudence. It's
an intrusion, and I won't stand it!' The cat did not move. I tried to
stare her out of countenance. It was useless. There was aggressive
inquiry in her yellow eyes. A sensation of uneasiness began to steal
over me--a sensation of embarrassment not unmixed with awe. All cats
looked alike to me, and yet there was something about this one that
bothered me--something that I could not explain to myself, but which
began to occupy me.

"She looked familiar--this Antwerp cat. An odd sense of having seen
her before, of having been well acquainted with her in former years,
slowly settled in my mind, and, although I could never remember the
time when I had not detested cats, I was almost convinced that my
relations with this Antwerp tabby had once been intimate if not
cordial. I looked more closely at the animal. Then an idea struck
me--an idea which persisted and took definite shape in spite of me. I
strove to escape from it, to evade it, to stifle and smother it; an
inward struggle ensued which brought the perspiration in beads upon my
cheeks--a struggle short, sharp, decisive. It was useless--useless to
try to put it from me--this idea so wretchedly bizarre, so grotesque
and fantastic, so utterly inane--it was useless to deny that the cat
bore a distinct resemblance to my great-aunt!

"I gazed at her in horror. What enormous eyes the creature had!

"'Blood is thicker than water,' said the man at the next table.

"'What does he mean by that?' I muttered, angrily, swallowing a
tumbler of Rhine wine and seltzer. But I did not turn. What was the
use?

"'Chattering old imbecile,' I added to myself, and struck a match, for
my cigar was out; but, as I raised the match to relight it, I
encountered the cat's eyes again. I could not enjoy my cigar with the
animal staring at me, but I was justly indignant, and I did not intend
to be routed. 'The idea! Forced to leave for a cat!' I sneered. 'We
will see who will be the one to go!' I tried to give her a jet of
seltzer from the siphon, b