‘I never said you did,’ said the tabby. ‘Where’s the cook?’
‘Gone to buy some new whiskers,’ said another. ‘She put them too close to the fire, which accounts for the smell of burning.’
‘Then all that can be done is to set to partners, and hope for the best,’ said the tabby.
‘If any one dances again,’ said David, ‘before you tell me the way, and where I shall find a shop with some proper food in it, not mousey, I shall turn on the electric light.’
‘Fiddle-de-dee!’ said the tabby, and they all began singing
‘Hey diddle-diddle
The cat and the fiddle.’
at the top of their voices.
David was getting vexed with them all, and he looked about for the electric light. But there were no switches by the door, as there ought to have been, but only a row of bottles which he knew came out of his father’s laboratory. But the stopper in one of them was loose, and a fizzing noise came out of it. He listened to it a minute, with his ear close to it, and heard it whispering, ‘It’s me! it’s me! it’s me!’
‘And when he’s got, it, he doesn’t know what to do with it!’ said the tabby contemptuously.