nt of the fire, that he once had the chance of being King of England!

To us, Thomas only looks like an ordinary, sleek, well-fed, tabby cat.
But then, you see, you don't know Thomas' Private History. Thomas
himself is usually too sleepy to think about his early adventures now,
but time was, when the mere mention of the Queen's name, would start
him off purring at the thought of what might have been!

It was a long time ago, when Thomas was just emerging from the kitten
stage, that his Private History really began. It started one evening
when mother was reading the children the story of the White Cat in
front of the nursery fire before they went to bed. Thomas, who had
been more than usually frisky all day, was taking a little repose on
the hearthrug, and as the story was about a cat, had condescended to
listen.

You all know the story--how the White Cat, though in the form of a cat,
was really a princess, and how she married the prince, and changed back
into a princess at last.

Thomas listened enthralled, and from the moment the story ended, his
Private History began.

For, at the close of the story, Thomas had quite come to the conclusion
that he, too, was no ordinary cat. No! As the White Cat in the story
was really a princess, Thomas was now convinced that he was really a
prince, and only waiting to marry a princess, or better still, a Queen,
to show himself in his true guise.

It was soon after this idea entered his head that Thomas became almost
intolerable.

The airs he assumed! The graces he put on! The arts he practised!
The condescension of his smile! The upward tilt of his nose! The
twirl of his moustachios! The defiant angle of his tail!

He began, also, to exercise his voice at night. "Practising
serenades," was how he described it to the stable cat, for whom he had
the utmost contempt, though he was not above showing off his fine
person in front of her now and then.

It was about this time, too, that Thomas started on a long series of
nightly prowls. "Quests of adventure," was how he described them. He
also developed a habit of strolling in about breakfast time, and
listening to Papa reading aloud the morning paper; but it was only in
the Court news that he really took any interest. From this he gathered
that it was in London that the Queen lived, and he became filled with a
burning desire to go to London. Accordingly he made himself more than
usually agreeable to the family, in