more
appetite for the rest. "It's a shame to leave it, though," I thought,
"when a few more laps will empty the dish." For I come of an ancient and
rough-tongued cat family, who always lick their platters clean. So I set
to work again, though the draught was most annoying, and froze the cream
to butter on my whiskers.

I was polishing the glazed earthenware with the family skill, when I
became conscious that the house was resounding to the cry of "Toots!"

"Toots, Toots!" squeaked the housemaid, in the servants' hall.

"Toots, Toots!" growled the elderly butler, in the pantry.

"Toots, Toots, cock-a-Toots!" yelled that intolerable creature, the
Macaw.

"Toots, Toots!" snapped the cook.

"Miow," said I; for I had finished the cream, and could speak now,
though I confess I did not feel equal to any great exertion.

The cook opened the door. She found me--she did not find the cream,
which she had left in the dish ready for whipping.

Perhaps it was because she had no cream to whip, that she tried to whip
me. Certainly, during the next half-hour, I had reason to be much
confused as to the meaning of the word "Toots." In the soft voice of my
mistress it had always seemed to me to mean cream; now it seemed to mean
kicks, blows, flapping dish-cloths, wash-leathers and dusters, pokers,
carpet brooms, and every instrument of torture with which a poor cat
could be chased from garret to cellar. I am pretty nimble, and though I
never felt less disposed for violent exercise, I flatter myself I led
them a good dance before, by a sudden impulse of affectionate
trustfulness, I sprang straight into my mistress's arms for shelter.

"You must beat him, miss," gasped the cook, "or there'll never be no
bearing him in the house. Every drop of that lovely cream gone, and half
the sweets for the ball supper throwed completely out of calculation!"

"Naughty Toots, naughty Toots, naughty Toots!" cried the young lady,
and with every "Toots" she gave me a slap; but as her paws had no claws
in them, I was more offended than hurt.

This was my first lesson in honesty, and it was also the beginning of
that train of reasoning in my own mind, by which I came to understand
that when people called "Toots" they meant me. And as--to do them
justice--they generally called me with some kind intention, I made a
point of responding to my name.

Indeed, they were so kind to me, and my position was such a very
comfortable one, that when a lean tabb