KIKI-THE-DEMURE Pardon, to _avoid_ change. What is this rage for change that takes possession of you all? Change means destruction. Only that which remains stationary is eternal. TOBY-DOG I'm eternal then, these three hours past. KIKI-THE-DEMURE But you've been out with Her, haven't you? You came in like a whirlwind; bells rang, clothes were shaken out, you were sneezing and laughing and aureoled with icy air.... The end of her nose felt so cold when She kissed me on the forehead. She always kisses me there, just over the dark stripes forming the classic M, which She assures me stands for miaou and for Minet, my name in French. TOBY-DOG Yes ... we had a fine run on the banks of the fortifications, and then we went into a shop. KIKI-THE-DEMURE Is that amusing? TOBY-DOG Not often. There are a great many people crowded together. I'm immediately seized with the fear of losing Her, and I stick close to her heels, no matter what comes. Strange feet push and knock me about and step on my paws. I yelp but the skirts all around stifle my voice.... When we're out of it, we both look as if we'd been shipwrecked.... KIKI-THE-DEMURE May the gods preserve _me_ from anything of the sort! Here, the moments have glided peacefully by. When She's not in this house, there's nothing to hinder me; I employ the time as my system of hygiene dictates. After my breakfast of rosy liver and milk, my kittenhood seems to come back to me; I'm filled with a foolish gayety. I go over to him. He's rumpling big, blackish papers and welcomes me with a quiet smile; we loll on the same divan, and revel in a few idle moments together. Sometimes, with imperious paw, I tear the paper He holds like a screen between us. It always seems to me the most desirable--the one that crackles best. He cries out, and I throw myself on my back and wriggle with joy in a sort of horizontal dance, He calls "the dance of the bayadeer." Then somehow, everything dwindles before my eyes, grows dim, and far away; I want to rise and go back to my cushion, but dreams already separate me from the world ... Ah! blessed hour when you and She disappear, when the house is at rest and takes a long breath. Soon I'm in the depths of a dark, sweet sleep; my ears alone keep watch and turn like sensitive antennas towards vague sounds of doors and bells ... (_At this moment someone rings_. TOBY-DOG _and_ KIKI-THE-DEMURE _start and change their positions. The Cat, sitting, encircles himself with his fluffy tail. The Dog, in a sphinx-like attitude, lifts his head boldly_.) KIKI-THE-DEMURE What's that? TOBY-DOG A tradesman? KIKI-THE-DEMURE, (_shrugging his shoulders_) That's not the kitchen bell. Perhaps it's caller. TOBY-DOG, (_with a bound_) What luck! They'll have tea and cakes! Come on!! Sugar, sugar! Little cakes! Little cakes!! KIKI-THE-DEMURE, (_gloomily_) To see ladies who shriek, and put gloved hands on my back--hands covered with dead skin?... ugh!