the cat - World eBook Library

The Shah of Persia
-THE CAT
Cats of his perfect beauty, of his perfect grace,
possibly might be found, Madame Jolicoeur grudg-
ingly admitted, in the Persian royal catteries ; but
nowhere else in the Orient, and nowhere at all in
the Occident, she declared with an energetic con-
viction, possibly could there be a cat who even ap-
proached him in intellectual development, in wealth
of interesting accomplishments, and, above all, in
natural sweetness of disposition,— a sweetness so
marked that even under extreme provocation he
never had been known to thrust out an angry paw.
This is not to say that the Shah de Perse was a
characterless cat, a lymphatic nonentity. On oc-
casions — usually in connection with food that was
distasteful to him — he could have his resentments
but they were manifested always with a dignified
restraint. His nearest approach to ill-mannered
abruptness was to bat with a contemptuous paw the
offending morsel from his plate ; which brusque act
he followed by fixing upon the bestower of un-
worthy food a coldly, but always politely contemp-
tuous stare. Ordinarily, however, his displeasure
was exhibited by no more overt action than his re-
tirement to a corner,— he had his choice in corners,
governed by the intensity of his feelings,— and
116