her arms; in a whisper she
admonished him:

"O you naughty Silvio! You have broken your parole that mother gave
for you. Now, say goodnight to the gentlemen, and come away to
mother's room!" As she was speaking she held out the cat's paw to me
to shake. As I did so I could not but admire its size and beauty.
"Why," said I, "his paw seems like a little boxing-glove full of
claws." She smiled:

"So it ought to. Don't you notice that my Silvio has seven toes, see!"
she opened the paw; and surely enough there were seven separate claws,
each of them sheathed in a delicate, fine, shell-like case. As I
gently stroked the foot the claws emerged and one of them
accidentally--there was no anger now and the cat was purring--stuck
into my hand. Instinctively I said as I drew back:

"Why, his claws are like razors!"

Doctor Winchester had come close to us and was bending over looking at
the cat's claws; as I spoke he said in a quick, sharp way:

"Eh!" I could hear the quick intake of his breath. Whilst I was
stroking the now quiescent cat, the Doctor went to the table and tore
off a piece of blotting-paper from the writing-pad and came back. He
laid the paper on his palm and, with a simple "pardon me!" to Miss
Trelawny, placed the cat's paw on it and pressed it down with his other
hand. The haughty cat seemed to resent somewhat the familiarity, and
tried to draw its foot away. This was plainly what the Doctor wanted,
for in the act the cat opened the sheaths of its claws and and made
several reefs in the soft paper. Then Miss Trelawny took her pet away.
She returned in a couple of minutes; as she came in she said:

"It is most odd about that mummy! When Silvio came into the room
first--indeed I took him in as a kitten to show to Father--he went on
just the same way. He jumped up on the table, and tried to scratch and
bite the mummy. That was what made Father so angry, and brought the
decree of banishment on poor Silvio. Only his parole, given through
me, kept him in the house."

Whilst she had been gone, Doctor Winchester had taken the bandage from
her father's wrist. The wound was now quite clear, as the separate
cuts showed out in fierce red lines. The Doctor folded the
blotting-paper across the line of punctures made by the cat's claws,
and held it down close to the wound. As he did so, he looked up
triumphantly and beckoned us over to him.

The cuts in the paper corresponded with the wounds in the wri