The Nomad of the Nine Lives | Page 8

course I understood that it was not my place to call first because he was very haughty and showed that he was unwilling to make my acquaintance.
However, I wore a collar which was newer and more expensive than his, and he knew that my people belonged to the "four hundred," so he finally condescended to notice me and asked me a few questions concerning my pedigree. I told him that my ancestors came over in the Mayflower, for was not Carver a name of which to be proud? He said that he belonged to the English aristocracy, but soon discovered that my education was better than his, for he had learned his letters only from playing around on the nursery floor and seeing them on blocks. His lessons of life had been acquired from a Mother Goose book when the children babbled, "Hi diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon," or some other such silly jumble of nonsense. He put on a great many airs, but knew nothing. I had acquired a little style myself, and finding he knew so little, took the upper hand and patronized him shamefully. If he had remembered my picking him out a choice bone from a garbage box and his dignified refusal, all would have been lost, but he didn't.
My looks had undergone a great change, I was sleek and glossy, for one of the maids had used some hair brilliantine belonging to the mistress on my coat. Accordingly Lord Roberts asked me to call again and I thanked him, saying that I should be pleased to do so. We saw each other quite frequently after that and became firm friends, for he soon found discretion to be the better part of valor, as my time spent in the slums had not been in vain in one respect,--I knew how to fight.

CHAPTER VI
My owners finally recognized me as the cat who had saved their silver. It happened as follows: One night in the winter a nurse was up with one of the children, who was ill. She gently soothed it and carrying some damp clothing into the sitting-room, placed it before the open fire to dry. She returned to the child and I lay down by the fire. I must have slept for some time when I was awakened by a suffocating sensation. To my horror I saw that the clothes had caught fire and that the wood-work around the fireplace was burning also.
What should I do? Oh, how my eyes smarted! I had a hard task to find my way to the door and was very glad to find it not quite closed. I crept through the small opening, rushed to my master's room and stood by his side, giving the same cry of warning that I did when the house was entered. He jumped up and touching the button exclaimed, "That is the same cat who gave the alarm before!" At the same instant he smelled smoke and made his way out into the hall where he found the fire. All was confusion at first, but as the chemical engine was just around the corner, the firemen were soon in the house and had the fire quickly extinguished. One of them said that if master had not waked as soon as he did, all would have been burned in their beds.
Perhaps I was not a hero! No one could do enough for me. I had an entire chop for breakfast (I thought of Lord Roberts and his liver). I did wish that mother and my nephew Tom, who, I had heard, was helping mother keep the mice away from the store, could see me now.
They called me "Hero," I who had never had a name before! After the fire the master and mistress did not want me out of their sight and I heard master say, "Emily, don't you think we ought to get another cat for the heavy work down stairs, such as killing the rats and mice?" She said, "Yes." My heart gave a great bound for I thought of Tom, my nephew, who was a fine young cat.
The next day I took a walk, unknown to the household. My collar gave me prestige and no one dared molest me. I made my way to the old provision store and found mother, who was getting quite stout, dozing in the garden.
She was pleased to hear of my prosperity and thought I looked extremely well. I told her about the chance for another cat at our house, and suggested Tom, whom I knew she had labored to bring up to be a credit to us all. I explained to her how I had the run of the library and could direct his education; this made