'No, sir. The more the better; for then they will have full occupation for their claws without me.'
'Ah, my dear,' said Mr. Falkirk, 'don't you know that the cat gets within springing distance before the claws are shown?'
'Yes, sir; but you are presupposing a stationary mouse. Pray, how many fierce, soft-pawed, sharp-clawed monsters preside over your ideas at present?'
'Six or seven,' said Mr. Falkirk with the utmost gravity.
'Fortune has come upon you suddenly, Wych.'
It was very pretty, the way she laughed and flushed.
'They are not all troubled with whiskers, sir—my kind medical friend, for instance.'
'You think so! Pray, in your judgment, what is he, then?'
'Not a cat, sir, and yet no lion. Mr. Rollo calls him a "specimen." '
'Of what?' (dryly enough.)
'I rebuked him for the expression, sir, but did not inquire its meaning.'