ral other desks in the big theatre which gave forth
sounds and excited Tom's curiosity, for Dr Bewley's young gentlemen
affected zoology even as far as young birds, though not to any very
great extent, as, not being nightingales, they did not nourish in the
dark.

But enough has been said to account for the cat's love of study when the
theatre was vacated by the pupils, and upon this particular occasion,
taking little heed of Mr Morris, Tom went on investigating with his
nose till he had reached the end of one series of desks, and, bounding
across the intervening space, he came down with a thump upon the next,
making Mr Morris look up sharply, snatch up a pocket lexicon, and send
it flying, in company with the words, "Tsh! Cat!"

The next moment he was alone; and, in perfect satisfaction with the
stiffness of his papers, he descended from his place and proceeded to
lay neatly along the rows before him a carefully doubled set of
half-a-dozen sheets of white blotting-paper, till one stood out clear
and clean upon every pupil's desk.

This done, he proceeded to work his way back by placing a blue printed
sheet of foolscap upon each improvised blotting-pad. It was all
carefully and neatly done, for Mr Morris's mathematical brain led him
to square the paper parallelograms, as he would have termed them, with
the greatest exactitude, before going away to his own desk to gaze back
over the blue and white patchwork before him, and give utterance once
more to his thoughts regarding the puzzledom which would exist the next
morning when the boys took their places.

"A magnificent mental exercise," he said proudly, before marching slowly
down the big room like a mathematical general surveying the field where
he was to do battle next day with the enemy in the shape of sloth and
ignorance.

So wrapped up was he in self that he passed out without noticing that he
was watched by one who waited till he was out of sight, and then, though
the door was open, preferred to enter by the window, leap on to a desk,
and then slowly proceed from one to the other; not in a bold open way,
but in a slinking, snaky, crawling fashion, as if about to spring upon
some object of prey.

The peculiarity of this was that it necessitated great extension of
person; and as, after the fashion of all cats save those that belong to
the Isle of Man, Tom carried his tail behind him, he went on in
ignorance of the fact that more than once the furry end touch