"'Mrs. Velvetpaw, you have lived a long time in this neighborhood?'
"'And you know every body?'
"'If you mean in the first rank of society—yes. Your Barebones, and Hop-an'-jumps, and creatures of that vulgar herd, are quite out of my category.'
"'Perhaps you know of some house-cat dead or gone away?'
"'And if I do?'
"'You might put me in her place, you know.'
"'Yellow Cat,' said Mrs. Tabitha, severely.
"'If you please, my name is Furry-Purry.'
"'Well, Furry-Purry, then. Your presumption can only be pardoned in consideration of your ignorance of the usages of society. House-cats, you must know, hold their position in families by hereditary descent. My place, for instance, was my mother's and my grandmother's before me. We are prepared by birth and education for the position we occupy. Have you considered how utterly unfitted you are for the life to which you aspire? I am sorry to disappoint you, but I fear your hopes are vain. There is, indeed, a vacancy in the brick house opposite. Cæsar—a venerable cat—died last week. He was much admired for his gentlemanly and dignified deportment. "Who shall come after the king?"'