"You never struck me as being a particularly unhappy type," I said. "No, how true that is, madame! I'm full of joie de vivre, as my dear wife would say." Just as Miss Nestleburt tapped lightly at the door and came in again. Grant drove up with David. They came in behind her, David making as much noise as a calliope. "I have a present for you, little David!" Miss Nestleburt said; and she handed David what she was carrying--a large, soft black cat. David was ecstatic. "Is it really mine? Can I really keep it?" he demanded. I eyed the cat's bulging sides askance. "I think it's about to calve," I whispered in an aside to Grant. "Yep, you can keep it," Grant said good-humouredly. "We'll quick fix it a bed in one of the garages." "Is it a boy cat or a girl cat?" David asked. "A girl cat, dear," I replied drily. Miss Nestleburt's blue eyes sparkled as she watched David's joy in his new pet. "Let's go out now and see where the cat wants his bed to be," David cried, pulling a dried piece of gum off his cheek; and Grant and Mr. Hawkins followed him outside. "Such pretty black, curly eyelashes the boy has!" Miss Nestleburt exclaimed. I was about to ask her where she got the plump cat when I remembered that there was something else I was curious about. "A long time ago Mr. Hawkins did something that embarrassed you--one of his practical jokes, I suppose--and you said you'd tell me all about it when you'd known me longer. Do you remember?" I asked. "And do you think you've known me long enough now?" Rosy color flooded her fair skin, and I saw that she remembered what I was talking about. I knew I shouldn't have brought up the subject again, but I reasoned that I would suffer more from curiosity if she never told me than she would suffer from embarrassment if she did. Her bright blue eyes darted around the room, to avoid meeting mine. "Yes, I remember. Of course I've known you long enough. It's just that one has difficulty in talking about such things ..." "I suppose he played a rather crude joke on you?" I prodded. "No, it--it wasn't a joke. It was something he gave me. It was--oh, dear, I don't know how to say it. I suppose he meant well, but it was really a most embarrassing gift . . ." She clasped and unclasped her tiny hands. "It really shocked me, especially since it had been only a few minutes since we had met. You see, he gave me a little undressed--that is, actually nude--ooh!" Miss Nestleburt gasped. Her eyes, in their uneasy jaunt around the room, had caught sight of the bookcase and what was on top of it--the perfume atomizer Mr. Hawkins had given me. "He--he gave you one too?" she asked weakly. I nodded, and we dissolved into helpless laughter. Our merriment was cut into abruptly by a loud crash and splintering outside. "A wreck!" I exclaimed, dashing through the door and forming the first catch sentence for the story as I ran.