leverer man than I, to undeceive
people who had fallen into so fortunate a mistake for me. Yet the
little man by my side insinuated himself so much into my confidence,
that I had half a mind to tell him of my exact situation, and to turn
him into a friend and an ally.

'Madame is perceptibly growing older,' said he, in the midst of my
perplexity, glancing at our hostess.

'Madame is still a very fine woman,' replied I.

'Now, is it not strange,' continued he, lowering his voice, 'how women
almost invariably praise the absent, or departed, as if they were
angels of light while as for the present, or the living'--here he
shrugged up his little shoulders, and made an expressive pause. 'Would
you believe it! Madame is always praising her late husband to
monsieur's face; till, in fact, we guests are quite perplexed how to
look: for, you know, the late M. de Retz's character was quite
notorious,--everybody has heard of him.' All the world of Touraine,
thought I, but I made an assenting noise.

At this instant, monsieur our host came up to me, and with a civil look
of tender interest (such as some people put on when they inquire after
your mother, about whom they do not care one straw), asked if I had
heard lately how my cat was? 'How my cat was!' What could the man mean?
My cat! Could he mean the tailless Tom, born in the Isle of Man, and
now supposed to be keeping guard against the incursions of rats and
mice into my chambers in London? Tom is, as you know, on pretty good
terms with some of my friends, using their legs for rubbing-posts
without scruple, and highly esteemed by them for his gravity of
demeanour, and wise manner of winking his eyes. But could his fame have
reached across the Channel? However, an answer must be returned to the
inquiry, as monsieur's face was bent down to mine with a look of polite
anxiety; so I, in my turn, assumed an expression of gratitude, and
assured him that, to the best of my belief, my cat was in remarkably
good health.

'And the climate agrees with her?'

'Perfectly,' said I, in a maze of wonder at this deep solicitude in a
tailless cat who had lost one foot and half an ear in some cruel trap.
My host smiled a sweet smile, and, addressing a few words to my little
neighbour, passed on.

'How wearisome those aristocrats are!' quoth my neighbour, with a
slight sneer. 'Monsieur's conversation rarely extends to more than two
sentences to any one. By that time his faculties are exhaus