d perfectly noiseless movement, caught up the cat and hid its head
under his coat. Then, cuffing the biggest boy, he kicked the dog, and
ordered the rest to disperse. The children did so lingeringly; and once
out of his reach, stood and mocked him.

He begged Maurice to accompany him to his lodgings, and there Maurice
held the animal, a large, half-starved street-cat, while Krafft, on his
knees before it, examined the wound. As he did this, he crooned in a
wordless language, and the cat was quiet, in spite of the pain he
caused it. But directly he took his hands off it, it jumped from the
table, and fled under the furthest corner of the sofa.

Krafft next fetched milk and a saucer, from a cupboard in the wall, and
went down on his knees again: while Maurice sat and watched and
wondered at his tireless endeavours to induce the animal to advance. He
explained his proceedings in a whisper.

"If I put the saucer down and leave it," he said, "it won't help at
all. A cat's confidence must be won straight away."

He was still in this position, making persuasive little noises, when
the door opened, and Avery Hill, his companion of a previous occasion,
entered. At the sight of Krafft crouching on the floor, she paused with
her hand on the door, and looked from him to Maurice.

"Heinz?" she said interrogatively. Then she saw the saucer of milk, and
understood. "Heinz!" she said again; and this time the word was a
reprimand.

"Ssh!--be quiet," said Krafft peevishly, without looking up.

The girl took no notice of Maurice's attempt to greet her. Letting fall
on the grand piano, some volumes of music she was carrying, she
continued sternly: "Another cat!--oh, it is abominable of you! This is
the third he has picked up this year," she said explanatorily, yet not
more to Maurice than to herself. "And the last was so dirty and
destructive that Frau Schulz threatened to turn him out, if he did not
get rid of it. He knows as well as I do that he cannot keep a cat here."

Her placidly tragic face had grown hard; and altogether, the anger she
displayed seemed out of proportion to the trival offence.

Krafft remained undisturbed. "It's not the least use scolding. Go and
make it right with the old crow.--Come, puss, come."

The girl checked the words that rose to her lips, gave a slight shrug,
and went out of the room. They heard her, in the passage, disputing
with the landlady, who was justly indignant.

"If it weren't for you,