"Well to be sure!" exclaimed the gardener's wife again. It was her favourite phrase; she seemed never to tire of it, and to have little else to say; but I understood what she meant, and took a comfortable nap in consequence.
By and by came dinner, and a pleasant little meal it was. Instead of flying at the kitten for presuming to eat at all, I quite enjoyed having a companion. My platter stood, as usual, in the yard, and Pussy's in a corner of the kitchen; but by mutual consent we began dragging our respective bones along the ground to eat in company; and the gardener's wife seeing the proceeding, carried our plates for us, and placed them side by side outside the door, and we finished our meal in the most sociable manner.
Times were now altered: but I need not give a detailed account of every day. The good understanding between Pussy and me continued to increase, till it ripened into the warmest friendship. Uncongenial companion as she appeared, I grew by degrees fonder of her than I had ever been of any of my own tribe; and although our habits were by nature totally dissimilar, we learned to understand, and even to take pleasure in accommodating ourselves to each other's little peculiarities.
I confess this was not done in a moment. At first I certainly was occasionally annoyed by Pussy's inconsistencies. She would profess to be so refined, that a speck of dirt on her white coat made her unhappy; so delicate, that she could not endure to wet her feet; so modest, that she could not bear to be looked at while she was eating; while at the same time she would scamper into the dirtiest hole after a mouse, and then devour the nasty vermin with a satisfaction quite disgusting to a well-bred sporting dog like myself.
I wished to educate her in the sentiments and habits of my own nobler race, but I found it a hopeless task. If I took her out for a walk, and tried to impress her with the pleasure of a good healthy swim in the pond, she listened politely; but in spite of all my arguments, when we arrived at the water's edge, and I plunged in, she never could be induced to follow; there she stood, mewing and shivering on the brink, not daring even to wet her claws. If I objected to her mice, she argued that they were her natural food, and agreed with her; and so on through all my attempts to reform her.
The little creature had generally an answer ready; and what was peculiarly provoking to a person unused to contradiction, like myself, she often disputed points upon which I had supposed there could be but one opinion. When I was trying to shame her into being more like a dog, she actually told me that she doubted whether mine really was the nobler race, for that the lion was her chief, and she challenged me to show his equal. This was the more irritating because I could not answer it; and I take some credit to myself for having kept my temper on the occasion, as I did feel tempted to give her a shake. Luckily it occurred to me that quarrelling with people for being in the right would not put them in the wrong, and that shaking them might not be the way to shake their opinions. So I was silent, and pretended to be indulgent.
After all, the little cat had received an education extremely suitable to her character and circumstances. Lily had made an in-door companion of her, as she had made an out-door one of me, and had taken great pains to cultivate her natural talents. Her manners were perfect. It was impossible to be more gentle, graceful, and courteous than Puss. Always at hand, but never in the way; quick in observing, but slow in interfering; active and ready in her own work, but quiet and retiring when not required to come forward; affectionate in her temper, and regular in her habits,—she was a thoroughly feminine domestic character.
She had her own ideas about me, which she communicated to me when we were sufficiently intimate for her to speak openly. Perhaps she did not admire me quite so much as I admired myself; but perhaps she was right—who knows? I have heard that even among men, lookers-on are sometimes the best judges. She did full justice to my strength and courage, and applauded my daring way of rushing upon an enemy, without regard to his size or position, instead of running into a corner and spitting at him. She admitted, without hesitation, that mine was the superior proceeding; but she suggested, that perhaps it might be as well not to be quite so ready to attack other dogs before they had given me any offence: also that it was unnecessary to suppose that every man who came to the house must have bad intentions, whether he gave me just cause for suspicion or not. In fact, she hinted that it was good to be brave, but bad to be quarrelsome. Then as to my personal appearance, she acknowledged that I was larger and handsomer than she, and that my rough, shaggy coat was far from unbecoming; but when I laughed at her finical cleanliness, and called her affected for not keeping her own white fur as rough and muddy as mine, she reminded me that it was that very neatness, so despised by me, which had procured her entrance into Lily's drawing-room, while I, with all my good qualities, was never allowed to come up stairs.
I had always thought it rather grand to bang about in a careless manner; and if I knocked any thing down, I supposed it was the thing's fault. I once swept down with my tail a whole trayful of crockery; and when I was scolded for doing mischief, I thought it quite sufficient excuse to say to myself, "I did not do it on purpose; what is the use of making such a fuss?" But I now saw clearly that Pussy's care not to do any mischief at all was both more agreeable to others and more advantageous to herself.
For instance, the gardener's wife turned me out in the cold while she was washing the china, whereas she let Pussy walk about on the very table among the cups and saucers, stepping so carefully with her soft little paws that there was no danger of any breakage. I have seen her walk along the edge of every shelf on the dresser, without disarranging a single plate. Then, while I was despising Puss for catching mice, I heard the gardener's wife giving her the highest praise for being an excellent mouser; and to my surprise, I found out that it was the regular work for which she was kept in the house.