me
painfully. Lady Claudia was far from feeling it as I did. Her languid
interest in the engagement of the groom seemed to be completely
exhausted--and that was all. She rose, in her easy graceful way, and
looked out of the window at the courtyard and fountain, the house-dog in
his kennel, and the box of flowers in the coachman's window.

In the meanwhile, the groom remained near the table, respectfully
waiting for his dismissal. The General spoke to him sharply, for the
first time. I could see that my good uncle had noticed the cruel tone of
that passing reference to the parents, and thought of it as I did.

"One word more, before you go," he said. "If I don't find you more
mercifully inclined toward my horses than you seem to be toward your
father and mother, you won't remain long in my service. You might have
told me you had never heard who your parents were, without speaking as
if you didn't care to hear."

"May I say a bold word, sir, in my own defense?"

He put the question very quietly, but, at the same time, so firmly that
he even surprised my aunt. She looked round from the window--then turned
back again, and stretched out her hand toward the curtain, intending, as
I supposed, to alter the arrangement of it. The groom went on.

"May I ask, sir, why I should care about a father and mother who
deserted me? Mind what you are about, my lady!" he cried--suddenly
addressing my aunt. "There's a cat in the folds of that curtain; she
might frighten you."

He had barely said the words before the housekeeper's large tabby cat,
taking its noonday siesta in the looped-up fold of the curtain, leaped
out and made for the door.

Lady Claudia was, naturally enough, a little perplexed by the man's
discovery of an animal completely hidden in the curtain. She appeared
to think that a person who was only a groom had taken a liberty in
presuming to puzzle her. Like her husband, she spoke to Michael sharply.

"Did you see the cat?" she asked.

"No, my lady."

"Then how did you know the creature was in the curtain?"

For the first time since he had entered the room the groom looked a
little confused.

"It's a sort of presumption for a man in my position to be subject to
a nervous infirmity," he answered. "I am one of those persons (the
weakness is not uncommon, as your ladyship is aware) who know by their
own unpleasant sensations when a cat is in the room. It goes a little
further than that with me. The 'antipathy,' a