Cat and Dog | Page 9

had a right to attract her notice. Of course I allowed her to pay proper attention to human beings; I knew that I could not come into competition with them, and therefore I never was jealous of them; but a word or a look bestowed upon an inferior animal appeared to me an affront which proper self-respect required me to resent.
One day Lily appeared in the garden carrying a little white kitten in her arms. I should have liked to have it to worry, and as Lily was very good-natured, I thought she had brought it for that purpose; so I sat watching ready to snap at it the moment she should toss it at me. After a time, I began to think she ought not to tantalise me by keeping me waiting so long, and I tried to show my impatience by various signs that she could understand. But to my surprise she was not only insensible to my hints, but took upon herself to reprove me, saying, "No, Captain, that is not being a good dog; you must not want to hurt the poor little kitten. Go farther off."
If ever I was affronted in my life it was then. I turned round, and shaking my ears, sat down with my back to Lily and her disgusting kitten, and absolutely refused even to look round when she spoke to me.
This was the beginning of a period in my life to which I always recur with shame and regret. I continued in a state of unmitigated sulks. Even Lily could not appease me. If she came to see me by herself, indeed, or with only human beings in her train, I brightened up for the moment; but if she appeared with the kitten in her arms, my surliness was disgraceful. Nobody knows how I detested the kitten. I thought it a misfortune to the universe that that kitten should exist.
On thinking it over at this distance of time, I honestly confess that I had no right to be jealous; Lily remitted none of her kindness, and gave me every proof of much higher regard and esteem than she bestowed on the kitten. She fed me, patted me, took me out walking, and talked to me just as usual; and as soon as she perceived my objection to her new pet, she left off bringing it with her, and was careful to keep it out of my sight. But I saw it in spite of all her pains. It was incessantly intruding itself upon my notice, sometimes on the roof of the house, sometimes jumping from a window-ledge; now perched upon a paling, now climbing the pillars of the verandah; and always looking clean and white and pretty, with a bit of blue ribbon which Lily had tied round its neck, as if on purpose to provoke me. Even when I did not see it, I heard it mew; and when I did not hear it, I thought about it.
I was miserable. To be sure I had no right to expect Lily to like nobody but me, and I had nothing to complain of; every pleasure and comfort in life was mine. Indeed, I think a real grievance would have been rather pleasant to me. I should have liked an injustice. I was determined to sulk, and should have been glad to have something to sulk at. But no; people would persevere in being kind to me. I might be as ill-tempered as I pleased; nobody punished, or even scolded me; and whenever I chose to be in good humour, my friends were always ready to meet me half-way. Indeed, I never was quite sure whether they noticed my ill-temper or not. But I did not try to come round, though certainly sulking did not conduce to my comfort. I once heard my master remark, in reference to some disagreeable human being, that ill-tempered people made themselves more unhappy than they made others; so I suppose sulking does not always agree even with men; I know it does not with dogs. It was a wretched time.
I continued to brood over my imaginary grievances, little thinking how soon they would be exchanged for real troubles. I had been discontented while every enjoyment was at my command, and now I was to wish in vain for the happiness I had neglected. And yet, in the point which I considered most important, I had my own way. I one day thought that if I were never again to see Lily caressing that kitten, I should be quite happy. I never again saw Lily caressing the kitten, and from that day my real sorrows began.
There was a bustle in the house. Every thing seemed in confusion. Every body was doing something different from usual. Furniture