I did not want to see any one of them again Mistigris used to lie in wait for me 'I believe we shall have to make up a bed on the stones,' she said That boy was rough and played experiments with him She married Mr. Fox in less than a month THE CAT CHAPTER I THE NURSERY I first saw the light--at least I did not exactly see the light, for I was blind, so they tell me, for about a week after I was born--on the twenty-third of April 19--. There were five of us, three boys and two girls. Our mother was a pure-blooded Persian; so was our father, and it was, I believe, considered by Them a very good match. They arrange all our matches for us in this country, and indeed manage most of our affairs, but then it must be remembered that we are strangers, as the title Persian denotes. Moreover, we belong to that division of the race that is called 'Blue Smokes,' which means, not that our fur is blue, for that would be ugly and loud, but that if you part it and look carefully at the roots you will see that it is exactly the shade of blue that smoke is when you get a lot of it together. Papa's name is 'Blue Boy II.,' and he is excessively handsome, and has taken prizes at cat-shows all over the country. His mistress, Miss Goddard, who lives at West Dulwich, is always travelling about with him to show him, and mother is very proud of that. The first sound that I heard--for I wasn't born deaf as well as blind--was the voice of Rosamond, a little girl who lives in our house sometimes, screeching at the top of her voice, 'Oh, Auntie, Auntie May! Petronilla has got her kittens! Hooray! Hooray!' My mistress came running upstairs two steps at a time, and put her foot through her dress--I heard it rip. Then she leaned over us, for I felt her breath on my face, and said in a voice quite gurgly with pleasure, 'Brava, Petronilla!' Then another voice--I learnt afterwards that it was the voice of the parlour-maid, a good soul and as fond of cats as Auntie May--said, 'They look just like so many grey boiled rags, don't they, Miss?' 'Oh, p-p-please, Auntie May,' began Rosamond, stuttering in her eagerness, 'mayn't I take one out to look at it?' 'Certainly not. How dare you propose such a thing! Go and do your health exercises. Petronilla is to be left entirely alone and not bothered.' 'Quite right, Miss Rosamond!' said Mary; 'I've heard say that if you watch her she'll do them a mischief. I knew a cat what ate all her kittens--'