The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-05-02
A BLACK CAT.
Their Tastes Were So Similar,
After All.

ats a strange. dreary-looking
nlaee said Mrs. Linfeld. Il don't
think I'm going to like it here, Dick"
II thing you will, mother" said
Dick. cheerily. "You see, the weather's
sort O. lowerin.' And this amt the
sme of year for country place to
look pleasant. Besides, any house
that hasn't been lived in for a
wear will smell triae musty. And
when I've trimmed away the tree
branches that hang down over the
caves. and sicEled down the hollyhock
st ks and high weeds, and got the old
grape vines trained up bit, and
things In decent running order, why,
You won't know the place.
Mrs. Linfeld sighed. Hers was
sad nature, and had been from her
youth up. Dick. her only son, looked
at life from entirely different point of
view.
..Sit down. mother, DEAR" said Dick.
"See how merrily the fire blazes up the
chimney. Listen! AS true as l live!
(holding up his finger) there's cricket
on the hearth! Hear it chirp! There's
luck for us, mother, all ready cut and
dried. And look! a black cat!''
For, even as he spoke, stealthy
feline creature glided across the room,
her yellow eyes flashing like pair of
Oriental topazes.
"A black cat eh!' repeated Mrs.
Linfeld, her detected countenance
Frightening up little. "Well, / do
b'lieve there's good fortune in that!
Dye s'pose she'll stay here with us,
Riehard?n
"Stay hereP Of course, she'll stay
here. Why shouldn't she stay here, il
we feed her and make her welcomeP
Now, mother, you're set up, aren't you,
with cat? And black one into the
bargain!''
Il seen a yellow dog a-skulkin
round the premises, observed Mrs.
Linield, obviously. "Dogs is always
a-worryin' cats. It's their naturer'
81 don't care what their nature is, >
said Dick, briskly. "If any dog at
tempts to harm this black cat, I'll xii
1t, sure as l liver
He spoke the last seven words witt
his head out of the window, trying t.
fasten back refractory blind, tina
tapped to and fro against the nortl
siding of the house; and as he spoke
them, the black cat ssprang past him
clearing the window-sill with bound
and vanished into the mimic wilderness
Of bushes that filled the door-yard witt
their neglected luxuriance.
Isabel Vennor, from the ragged littl
garden-patch, where she was gatherin!
the few last red tomatoes that hunl
like monster knobs of coral from tn
vines, saw old Jetspring into the mist.
October air, and heard the voice anC
Its utterance. She stood still, with tn
tomatoes in her apron, and her eye
flashing with Indignation.
Kill itr' she cried, under her breath
"Kill my Jet So, that's the kind 0
neighbors we're goingto have! That
the new engineer in the button factory
that Mr.. Dilworth said was so nice ant
amiable. Oh! I'm glad I've found hin
out from the very beginning!n
She dropped the scarlet burden Q
tomatoes, enfolded Jet in her apron
and hustled back into the house as
an avenging angel had been in full pur
suit of her.
Dear me, Bell!'' said Mrs. Vennor
who was quietly knitting by the fire
whats the matterP"
ats the new neighbors, mother!
cried Isabel, breathing hard an,
quick. Il know all about them, an
they re perfectly borrid!"
Half an hour later, when the twiligh
had fallen darkly on the rocky Ne
hngland pasture lots, and the sluggis
course of the little river below, Rich
ard Lntield knocked at the door of th
Yennor house.
Gould I borrow a box of matchesP
sald he, his handsome face inclined
MS hat in his hand. 1T seems to b
the one thing we're out of, and"
I'VE have nothing to lend,n sal
isabel, hastily, as she closed the doc
N his face, with furtive glance at tn
olack cat, who was watching a mouse
mole IN the kitchen closet beyond.
Richard Linfeld went away, consid