'The chimney-piece,' said the guide, 'is constructed entirely of Roman marble.'
'Really?' said Mrs. Harvey-Browne, examining it abstractedly through her eyeglasses. 'She declares their vicarage is haunted; and what in the world do you think by? The strangest thing. It is haunted by the ghost of a cat.'
'The statue on the right is by Thorwaldsen,' said the guide.
'By the ghost of a cat,' repeated Mrs. Harvey-Browne impressively.
She seemed to expect me to say something, so I said Indeed.
'That on the left is by Rauch,' said the guide.
'And this cat does not do anything. I mean, it is not prophetic of impending family disaster. It simply walks across a certain room—the drawing-room, I believe—quite like a real cat, and nothing happens.'
'But perhaps it is a real cat?'
'Oh no, it is supernatural. No one sees it but herself. It walks quite slowly with its tail up in the air, and once when she went up to it to try to pull its tail so as to convince herself of its existence, she only clutched empty air.'
'The frescoes with which this apartment is adorned are by Kolbe and Eybel,' said the guide.