as little as she understands it.


VII

Jap Malee lingered around that cage, taking in the remarks, for
hours--drinking a draught of glory such as he had never known in
life before and rarely glimpsed in his dreams. But he saw that it
would be wise for him to remain unknown; his "butler" must do all
the business.

It was Slum Kitty who made that show a success. Each day her
value went up in her owner's eyes. He did not know what prices
had been given for Cats, and thought that he was touching a
record pitch when his "butler" gave the director authority to
sell the Analostan for one hundred dollars.

This is how it came about that the Slum Cat found herself
transferred from the show to a Fifth Avenue mansion. She evinced
a most unaccountable wildness at first. Her objection to petting,
however, was explained on the ground of her aristocratic dislike
of familiarity. Her retreat from the Lap-dog onto the centre of
the dinner-table was understood to express a deep-rooted though
mistaken idea of avoiding a defiling touch. Her assaults on a pet
Canary were condoned for the reason that in her native Orient she
had been used to despotic example. The patrician way in which she
would get the cover off a milk-can was especially applauded. Her
dislike of her silk-lined basket, and her frequent dashes against
the plate-glass windows, were easily understood: the basket was
too plain, and plate-glass was not used in her royal home. Her