"Ah!" said Mr. B—, smiling. "A letter of introduction, I suppose. Bring him up stairs, Thomas, and let us have a look at him."
Thomas made no reply, but went down to the housekeeper's room, where Binney lay at the kind old lady's feet. He had combed his fur out clean with his long claws, and looked and felt much better than when he arrived, so much so that he was rolling over and over before the fire, playing in his clumsy way, and grunting with pleasure. He had not felt so happy since he left his home in the north-west.
"Master says I am to bring this here beast up stairs; but how I am to bring him, I should like to know," said Thomas, sulkily. "I dare say he will bite me if I touch him. Here, beast! Come here, sir!"
But Thomas did not speak kindly, and Binney would not follow him.
"I will take him up myself," said the kind housekeeper, rising. "Come along, there is a good little fellow."
Binney was very ready to follow the old lady who had been so good to him, and he trotted along after her up the stairs, which were very low and easy, till he came to the drawing-room. It was a large, handsome room, nicely furnished, and had a thick, soft carpet upon the floor. Mr. B— sat before the bright fire, reading the paper; but he looked up as the housekeeper came in with Binney behind her.
"Ah, thank you, Mrs. Smith," said he. "So you have brought our new pet. How does he seem?"
"Well, sir, he seems a deal better than when he came," replied Mrs. Smith. "I have fed him, and given him some water to wash in, and he seems quite lively and playful like."
Just then something bounded from the top of a high bookcase, and came down on the floor. Binney looked at it in great surprise. He had never seen such a creature in all his travels. It was a little animal of a reddish gray color, about the size of a half-grown kitten, but much more active and graceful. Its face was white, its nose long and sharp, and its eyes extremely large and bright. Its feet were shaped much like a man's hands, and it had a very long furry tail. It was a white-fronted lemur, from the island of Madagascar, far away in the Indian Ocean.
"O ho, Mackey! So you have waked up," said Mr. B—. "You seem in fine spirits to-night. Here is a new playmate for you."