ss remarkable.

I count as but of little moment the story of the "White Cat;" for though
it often charmed me in my days of romance, when the world seemed all
bright and beautiful, and the Golden Age appeared no marvel, I have been
since angry with myself at my admiration, as though charmed under false
pretences, seeing that the said "White Cat" was no Puss after all, but a
very free and easy young lady in disguise.

My Caneville Pussy is at least a true one. From the respect in which she
appears to have been held in her place of birth, and from the attention
which seems to have been bestowed upon her by most of the great animals
of Caneville, there is every reason to believe that the scenes she
describes were real; for it was a weakness of the Dons in that famous
City only to grant favour where it was merited, and never to associate
with those whose moral character was not above suspicion.

With these preliminary remarks, I leave Miss Minette to tell her own
story. That no one was more capable of doing so may be judged from the
fact that it was a customary thing with her to relate it to a crowd of
admiring listeners, whom the fame of her beauty, adventures, and with
attracted to her dwelling; and though the comments which were made and
the questions asked by one or other of the auditory, made the narration
on such occasions a rather lengthy one, the written memoirs, from which
this tale has been translated, may be considered the pith, the marrow,
as it were, of her "household narrative."

A. E.

_King's Arms Yard_,
_Moorgate Street, London._

[Footnote 1: Some of the learned F.A.S.'s of the present day insist that
this celebrated animal was _tortoise-shell_, and others aver, with equal
energy, that it was _white_. Who shall decide?]

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

INTRODUCTION 9
KITTENHOOD 13
DANGERS 20
A NEW LEAF 30
LOVE AND WAR 37
REFLECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS 44
LIFE ABROAD 51
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE 58

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY _Frontispiece._
A JUVENILE PARTY 13
AN UNWELCOME VISITOR 27
A SELECT CLASS 35
ONE TOO MANY