the cat - World eBook Library

Moumoutte Chinoise
=THE CAT
I remember the day when the Chinese cat and I
established friendly relations. It was a melan-
choly afternoon in September. The first fogs of
autumn were brooding over the cold, unquiet
waters. We were sailing eastward, and the ship
creaked plaintively as she slid into the hollows of
the sea. I sat writing in the obscurity of my cabin,
which grew darker and darker as the green waves
washed over my closed port-hole.
Suddenly a little form came stealing out of the
shadows. It drew nearer, stealthily and hesita-
tingly. There was an oriental grace in its fashion
of holding one paw suspended in air, as though
uncertain where to place it next. It looked at me
with anxious interrogation.
" What does the cat want ? " I said to myself.
She has had her dinner. She is not hungry.
What is it she is after? "
As though to answer me, la Chinoise crept closer
and closer, until she was at my feet. Then sitting
upright, and curling her tail about her, she uttered
a gentle little cry, looking straight into my eyes
which seemed to hold some message she could read.
She understood that I was a thinking creature,
capable of pity, accessible to a mute prayer, and
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