and other visitors arrive at Miss
Tabitha's.]

Miss Tabitha Pussycat was a quiet, sleek, old creature, and was so prim,
that her friends called her an old maid; and some of them even said that
she was an old cat, but they were the people who were not asked to her
nice tea parties. When she gave a tea party, she sent her page Jacko to
invite her friends. Jacko was a clever monkey, who had come from his
last place at the Zoological Gardens, where he had been used to see a
great deal of company.

One day Miss Tabitha made up her mind to have a larger party than usual,
so she sent out for a dish of pink shrimps, a bag of muffins, a
tea-cake, a new French loaf, and a pound of fresh butter. Then she sent
Jacko out in his new coat to invite her friends.

First, there was Mr. Velvet Purr, a quiet old bachelor, who sat nearly
all day in the sun on a garden seat watching the birds, but who was much
too well fed to catch mice. Miss Velveteen Purr, his sister, went with
him, she was a very pretty singer, wore a fur tippet, and drank a good
deal of milk to soften her voice.

Sir Claude Scratch was a very different person. He was proud of his
high family, for his father was second cousin to Dick Whittington's Cat,
and had seen a great deal of the world. Sir Claude was very proud of his
whiskers, and before he went to the tea party, he called on Frizzle
Frog, the barber, to be shaved. While he sat there, with the towel under
his chin, who should look in, but his friend Captain Black, a very
fierce looking fellow, who had killed hundreds of rats, and was always
ready to fight. He was a great favourite of the ladies, and said he
would go to tea though he had not been invited.

[Illustration: Sir Claude Scratch calls on Frizzle Frog the barber, and
while he is being shaved, Captain Black drops in.]

The four Misses White were already on their way to Miss Pussycat's house
in their clean stockings, and the nice silky dresses that their mother
had given them. Old Mrs. White lived at the baker's round the corner,
and her daughters' names were Fluffy, Tibby, Titty, and Tip; all of them
famous for their beautiful skins and their bright eyes. You may be sure
that the four Masters Tortoise Shell were waiting for them, for they had
been ready all the afternoon, with their tail-coats on, for the purpose
of walking with these charming young ladies. They were very young
gentlemen, so that they were quite proud at being asked.

It was a very