" And to Hildegarde's mingled
horror and amusement, the child curled himself up on the piazza floor,
and deliberately laid his head on the broad black side of the sleeping
lexicographer. The great cat opened his yellow eyes with a start, and
turned his head to see "what thing upon his back had got." There was a
moment of suspense. Hildegarde's first impulse was to rush forward and
snatch the child away; her second was to stand perfectly still. "_Dee_
ole kitty!" murmured Benny, in dulcet tones. "P'ease don't move! Benny
_so_ comfortable! Benny lubs his sweet ole pillow-kyat! Go to s'eep
again, dee ole kitty!"

The Doctor lay motionless. His eyes wandered over the little figure, the
small hands nestled in his own thick fur, the rosy face which smiled at
him with dauntless assurance. Who shall say what thoughts passed in that
moment through the mind of the representative of the Royal Bengal Tiger?
Presently his muscles relaxed. His magnificent tail, which had again
expanded to thrice its natural size, sank; he uttered a faint mew, and
the next moment a sound fell on Hildegarde's ear, like the distant
muttering of thunder, or the roll of the surf on a far-off sea-beach.
Dr. Johnson was purring!

After this all was joy. The barriers were removed, and the child and the
cat became inseparable companions. Miss Wealthy beamed with delight,
and called upon the girls to observe how, in this most remarkable
animal, intellect had triumphed over the feline nature. She was even a
little jealous, when the Doctor forsook his hassock beside her chair to
go and play at ball with Benny; but this was a passing feeling. All
agreed, however, that a line must be drawn somewhere; and when Benny
demanded to have his dinner on the floor with his "sweet ole kyat," four
heads were shaken at him quite severely, and he was told that cats were
good to play with, but not to eat with. In spite of which Rose was
horrified, the next day, to find him crouched on all-fours, lapping from
one side of the Doctor's saucer, while he, purring like a Sound steamer,
lapped on the other.

Benny did another thing one day. Oh, Benny did another thing! Rose was
teaching him his letters in the parlor, and he was putting them into
metre, as he was apt to put everything,--

"_A_, B, _C_, D,
_Fiddle_, diddle,
_Yes_, I see!"

And with each emphasis he jumped up and down, as if to jolt the letters
into his head.

"Try to stand still, Benny