The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-09-08
LINKS THE CAT forged.


see if | followed. / turned up the collar
of my coat, for the air was chilly, and
went out again into the beautiful Octo-
Der night. The street was as silent as
the footballs of the little animal softly
walking down the steps The black cat
led the way. and followed. Why, | do
not know.
Two nights before I had walked up
from my Office late with a friend. 1t
was long past midnight when we turn
ed into the quiet street where lived,
talking about know not what Sud-
denly there stepped out of the shadow
of huge tree a black cat Looking
neither to the right nor the left, she
walked deliberately before Us.
Hat said nv friend. with a tragic
air, "a cat!-a black cat! Let US fol-
low the cat
And then he laughed, and even as he
walked the echoes down the street,
cannot tell why-I shivered. The cat
walked silently along past the lower
steps OF the flights leading down from
the houses, keeping pace or two ahead
of US. My friend left me at his door,
saying, Goodnight Beware of the
cat" went on to my house, not far
beyond. At the steps the cat stopped,
hesitated for moment, and then walk
ed up to the door. Somewhat surprised,
| followed.
do not like eats. They seem to me
to be treacherous, dangerous brutes, and
i am even half afraid of Them. But
when the black cat stopped at my door
l determined, for some inexplicable
reason, to admit her She seemed to
know my room, for she walked up the
single flight of stairs before me, and
entered the room as | opened the door.
! found her stretched out on the floor
when | had lighted the gas, and if she
had lived in my room all her life she
could not have appeared more at home.
For the same inexplcable reason that |
admitted the cat to my house | allowed
her 10 remain in my room.
The next evening ! came in earlier; it
may have been 10 o'clock. The black
cat met me at the door and Garted by
me as | stepped over the threshold.
Then. as | turned to see whittier she had
gone, felt pull at the leg of my trous-
ers. and saw that the cat had fastened
claw there and was certainly trying to
draw me from the house. | stopped
down and softly stroked the animal s
back, at the same time disengaging her
claw. Then l turned and entered the
house, and the cat, after a moment of
apparent irresolution, followed me,
mewing strangely.
The next night she again met me at
| the door, and the effort to draw me
! from the house was repeated. The de-
| sire was so apparent that was puzzled,
and, l own, a little disturbed. The cat
4 went with me TO my room, and, sitting
/ there in the freight. with her bright
eyes staring at me. | formed a purpose
/ to yield to this curious whim if it were
again displayed, tried to reason with
| myself, but reason seemed to have given
way to an impulse as uncomfortable as
! it was mysterious.
passed an uneasy night and then a
day, half hoping that when evening
came my unbdden and unwelcome
! guest would be gone. heard the clocks
/ in the houses along the street where 1
| lived strike / / as | walked down toward
my door, As | stepped over the thres-
| hold | saw the fiery eyes of the cat in
the dark hall A cold shiver passed
through my frame. l trembled with an
excitement as intense as it was sudden.
My heart began to beat so loudly that
l involuntarily held my hands over it
as if to still it. Then summoning my
resolution / followed the cat down the
steps and strobe after her as she fitted
down the street.
1t was black night Heavy. swol-
len gray clouds had been hanging low
in the sky when darkness came on, and
now they drew an impenetrable veil be-
tween the earth and the stars. The old,
winding streets of the quarter of the
town in which | lived were silent and
deserted. Now and then gust of wind
swept down and swung some shutter
back upon its hinges with hoarse, graf
ing sound. The moaning of the wind
was full of strange meaning to me. My
thoughts wandered off through the black
arches of that dismal night, and as
strobe down the street. drawn irresistibly
after the noiseless black cat, there came
up before me vivid picture of the trag-
edy which had come into my life only a
wear before. when / had completed my
college course.
| saw my fathers house-a large
white building, surrounded by spacious
piazzas and standing in the middle of a
wide, velvet-hke lawn. / saw my father
sitting in his comfortable library. from
which two bay windows opened upon
the piazza. He had left my sister and
mother and myself in an adjoining
room, and was sitting at table facing
one of the open windows. A students
lamp cast soft mellow light over the
room. Behind my father stood his safe,
which contained large sum of money,
put there to pay his workmen on the
following morning. The door between
the library and the room in which We
were was open, and occasionally hC
spoke to US. Then came long silence
and we heard only the soft patter of the
rain on the piazZas.
'.What can father be doing" asked
my sister at length, s'that keeps him sc
quiet?"
Writing, l suppose" said my
mother. He is making up the pay
rolls. you know"
Then he'll never get through re
piled my sister. '.for he has fallen asleep
I'm sure.
We listened again. We heard only
the steady, monotonous patter of tn,
rain.
WELL" said my sister. rising. .'don'
you think l ought to wake him up
mother?n
Yes answered my mother.
My sister went into the next room.
Father she said, ..wake up; it i
! growing late. =
There was no answer. The next mo
ment piercing shrek rang througl
the house.
.My God, He is deadr'
Horror stricken. we rushed into th'
room. The safe had been robbed an,
my father shot through the heart Will
he sat not thirty feet away from Us, ant
we had not heard a sound. At the posi-
mortem examination they found in hi
body curious missile more than al
: inch long and shaped partly like a bul
let and partly like dart The poin
was sharp, and three sharp faces RAJ
/ back toward the body of the missile
: Experts said the missile had been pre-
I jected by some force other than powder
else my mother and sister would hav
s heard the report. and they talked yer
learnedly about the application of con-
7 pressed air and even hinted at electr
/ city. But what manner of weapon tn
murderer used none could say.
had mechanically taken the dart an
!. put it in my pocket 1 always carrie
: it there in the vague hope that some da
e it might help me to unrayel the mys
q terry of my fathers death, which ha
d slain my mother and had rested upo
G my soul like a great pail l had tbs
+ dart in my pocket even them
And there / was following a mystel
ious black cat out of the suburbs Of th
city in the gloomy night and down
country road, moved by some impuls