The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-07-23

Penelope passed Miss Florry the morn
ing paper where breezy bits Of scandal
blew away the cobwebs, and by the time
that Anna White came in to discuss II
all was quiet again.
For the gossip was Of local interest.
This all comes said Miss Penelope. re-
ferring to it, ''from that woman's being
such a coward she has never dared 10
I call her soul her own. If she had faced
him down in the beginning-but then,
married women always are towards
their souls aren't their own. I'd like TO
see the man I'm afraid of. 1t takes a
single life to develop couiage in a wom-
an-On, goodness Florry Anna Help
Help And Penelope had sprung up
into chair where she stood with her
skirts tightly drawn around her ankles,
shrieking piteously, her eyes starting
from her head, as she gazed on little
mouse that Grimalkin had proudly
brought into the room and dropped fol
purposes of praise and torture.
I But Nora, hearing the outcry, had
| quickly swept both the mouse and Grim
akin out of the way.
at takes single life to develop cour-
age :" laughed Miss Florry
"You know very well what / mean,
/ Florry," calculated Miss Pen. "I mean
for the ordinary dangers. Not mice, nor
monsters.n
well, if there's anything extraordi-
nary in mice
@Ifs extraordinary the way your Grim
akin brings them in here
MY Grimalkin. like that. l should
think he was as much yours as mine"
aHe's not l disclaim all right, title
and interest in such lank, miserable
beast. Besides, don't keep cats 10 catcl
mice. Spot would scorn such cruelty.
There's something inherently cruel in
Grimalkin's nature"
Il won't have Grimalkin spoken Of
So cried Miss Florry. Its cats duty
to catch mice"
Il don't think need you to lecture
me on my cats duty
"Yeur cat! Spot is as much mine as
yours"
swell, he isn't, then. He's my cat ex-
clusiyely. And of course, he's a bad cat /;
all my pets are vermin. It's singular
thing that if any of the animals are in
the wrong it should always be my ami
mal~ And Miss Penelope betook her
self to silence, and made an uneomfort-
able time of it for Anna White, who had
come for a dish Of gossip and had instead
cold blanket Of sulks.
War had begun At dinner Miss Flor
~ was so unwise as to give Spot tid-bit
from her plate.
@Pretty looking carpet We shall have
of it soon" said Mss Penelope
"well," SAID Miss FIorry, the evil one
rising in her, too, II suppose have some
rights in the carpet, if l haven't in the
cat"
"You know very well you are only
feeding the cat to toll him away from
me"
"Toll him away from you l shouldn't
think it would need anything more than
the expression of your face to drive him
away"
4 don't choose to be insultel at my
own fathers table" said Miss Penelope,
haughtily.
Il rather think It's as much my fathers
table as yours," retorted the other. "For
my part, 1 wish had never seen the
cat"
a dare say you do" exclaimed Miss
Penelope, nearly choking with wrath
and a bit of crust. 'But let me tell you
if l find you attempting to poison my
cat"
Miss Florry put down her fork speech
less with amazement Then she took a
sip OF water-her lips were dry with an
ger.
81 don't know if will ever speak to
you again, Penelope" she said. II to be
accused of poison.' ~
81 shall speak to you, and TO some pur-
pose, too," Penelope answered. "If my |
cat dies III make you answer for it in a
court of justice. And will let DR.. With
ers and the whole society, moreover, /
know just what a viper they are cherish /
ing in their bosom"
Then you'll be speaking of me. And |
that will be SANDER; and SANDER is ac-
tionable in court of justice also. Two |
can play at that game. Aren't you
Penelope, to make such fuss
about cat? Women at our age. am
of myself"
al should think you ought to be, " said |
the implacable Penelope.
And at that Miss Florry couldn't help /
and Miss Penelope took fresh |
dudgeon, and swept from the table in /
such an imposing manner as to upset her /
water-glass and her chair and nearly /
swept the cloth away with her before she !
the door.
II was cold morning or two later, and /
Miss Flory, lowering over the crate, did /
not observe Spot at the window sill until 4
Miss Penelope's voice, cracking with 1
frost, exclaimed:
Il suppose you wouldn't let my cat in
if he froze. must say the inhumanity /
Of some people passes belief-member of /
all the prevention of cruelty societies in /
town, and let little creature perish out I
side the door--I don't know what you
can be made of Queer blood some
where"
There's quite as much known about 1
my blood as about yours cried Miss
Florry. "And if the cat wants to come
in, he knows the way round to the kitch-
en-, suppose"
"He isn't kitchen cat. Being my /
cat, of course you think you can relegate
him to the kitchen and send me to keep /
him company there"
ave never Kindred your going into
the kitchen
81 don't know how you could very /
well. It's as much my kitchen as it is
yours"
Il never said il wasn't"
81 declare, Florry, you've become per-
fectly insuferable lately. think you
must lie awake NIGHTS trying % find out |