A CAT STORY.
[TO THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."]
have never been a lover of cats or a believer in their capacity for disinterested affection, but a recent experience has considerably shaken my scepticism. Also I feel that I owe some reparation to this particular cat, having lived for several months under the same roof and formed an unfavourable opinion of her, partly owing to her incorrigible habit of in- stalling herself in my armchair, partly owing to the strange quality of her mew, which was a mixture of a " miaou " and a sneeze, to say nothing of the painful excitement she displayed when there was fish on the table. I could not understand the affection in which she was regarded by the family, especially by a schoolboy son. Now, on revisiting my friends after a long interval, I have learned to revise my judgment. To begin with, she now mews in a perfectly normal and orthodox manner. As for her record in other respects I give the statement of my host's daughter "In March, 1917, when T. [her brother] had scarlet fever, in spite of the doctor and nurse forbidding it, the cat insisted on staying in the bedroom where he was for the whole six weeks. She was most unhappy and anxious when turned out of the room. Again, when he was seriously ill in the following November, she would not leave him, but watched him night and day. The specialist said the cat must go, but T. fretted so that she was allowed to stay. When we moved house this year the cat did not approve of the change, and after an hour or so left us and disappeared. In February T. was ill again, wanted to have the cat, and kept on asking for her, telling the doctor he knew he would get well if he could have her back. One night we heard a mew at the window, and on opening it the cat ran in and went straight up to T.'s room, where she remained until he was perfectly well. When he had gone back to school she deserted us again and stayed away all the term, but at the beginning of the holidays she returned and seemed quite happy. We had found out by this time that during the interim she had resumed her quarters at our old house, where she was not recognized by the new tenants."
So now I understand why the schoolboy brother calls the cat, who is middle-aged and unromantic in appearance, " Preei ,IF4- ness."—I am, Sir, he.,
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