instead of going round them, only to find itself, for a fatal two seconds,
in difficulties with the close-set thicket of stems.

In regard to the extraordinary agility of which the pursuing gentleman as
capable, it is enough to say that he caught the cat. He emerged from the
lilacs holding it in one hand, his gloves and white hat in the other, and
presented himself before Miss Betty with a breathlessness not entirely
attributable to his exertions.

For a moment, as she came running toward him and he met her flashing look,
bright with laughter and recognition and haste, he stammered. A thrill
nothing less than delirious sent the blood up behind his brown cheeks, for
he saw that she, too, knew that this was the second time their eyes had
met. Naturally, at that time he could not know how many other gentlemen
were to feel that same thrill (in their cases, also, delirious, no less)
with the same, accompanying, mysterious feeling, which came just before
Miss Betty's lashes fell, that one had found, at last, a precious thing,
lost long since in childhood, or left, perhaps, upon some other planet in
a life ten thousand years ago.

He could not speak at once, but when he could, "Permit me, madam," he said
solemnly, offering the captive, "to restore your kitten."

An agitated kitten should not be detained by clasping its waist, and
already the conqueror was paying for his victory. There ensued a final,
outrageous squirm of despair; two frantic claws, extended, drew one long
red mark across the stranger's wrist and another down the back of his hand
to the knuckles. They were good, hearty scratches, and the blood followed
the artist's lines rapidly; but of this the young man took no note, for he
knew that be was about to hear Miss Carewe's voice for the first time.