Nothing makes a house cozier than cats.
Nobody keeps a cat.
They condescend to live with you is all. The way to get on with a cat is to treat it as an equal - or even better, as the superior it knows itself to be. My cat does not talk as respectfully to me as I do to her. Oh, the cats in this town have their secrets. A black cat dropped soundlessly from a high wall, like a spoonful of dark treacle, and melted under a gate.