The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-07-29
THE STUFFED CAT.

/ was all alone one evening in my
study.
Do you not know this study? That is
natural because / never have introduced
you to it. Perhaps you would not like
1t. like it very much-irst of all be-
cause it is mine. and her because I have
arranged it according to my tastes.
There is a little of everything in it-a
colossal writing desk with an infnity of
drawers and pigeonholes, a bookcase.
some shelves for books, two tables. n
large and one small: a divan, an arm
chair. on the floor rugs and cushions
thrown down everywhere, pictures on
the walls. u gas lamp in the center. In
one corner on topo of a column of black
wood is a stuffed cat-a magnificent
tiger striped cat with sparkling green
eyes that seems ready to spring down
from its pillar, tired probably of acting
Simeon Stylites.
In this den or study. Is you please to
call it. l pass beautiful hours. day OF
evening. writing, reading, meditating.
smoking and doing nothing.
1t is here that l retire in hours of the
blues, in those hours of unconscious, in
stinctive i'll humor which cannot ex-
plain or Justify and which exactly on
that account one translates into an ex-
traordinary irritation.
This den is the despair of my wife and
the rest of the household because they
are positively forbidden to touch, to
ever move a book or a paper under that
pretext of putting into order which re-
solves itself into real disorder. l will
wager that if my wife, my sister-in-law.
my nieces, could arrange my den accord
ing to their tastes, turning 1t upside
down, they would be happy. But they
do not venture for fear Of me Only
when l speak Of my study all those
feminine lips curl with smiles. disdain-
full, i~ronical or compassionate.
1t is especially the stuffed cat that jars
upon their nerves. My wife absolutely
wished to throw him away, give him
away, destroy him. l was obliged to de-
clare to her that such an outrage would
Immediately provoke on my part a de,
mand for legal separation pending the
approval of divorce by vote of the Italian
chamber of deputies.
Now that I have presented. so to say
the surroundings, l will go on to relate
the fact, the terrible, frightful fact that
has taken place in my delicious den ano
to which l am indebted for the gray
hairs that embellish my 36-year-old locks
One evening in the autumn all my
family was in the country. | only hat
staid in town to attend to some urgenr
work.
was all alone in the house. A WON
an came every morning to clean, tx
sweep and air the rooms and went away
after l dined at a restaurant.
Now, for some days thought that
noticed In nay study something strange
odd, unaccustomed. It had the sam
effect upon me as if something were no
in it's place. / would have taken m.
oath that certain books had been moved
certain papers had been rummaged.
l questioned the domestic, who swor
8uu DGIIuISA aclScll w Ill SA1CSU Ullht
faithful to her trust, she had touches
nothing, but had limited herself t
sweeping the floor and busting the furni
ture. And no one else aver entered tn
room.
One morning it seemed to me that tn
stuffed cat, my good eat with the gree
eyes that I called Tie when he was alive
had been touched. Certainly his attitud
was not the same or I was dreaming
Yes, yes, his head was turned anothe
way, and the expression Of his face, tina
of an honest feline, was different fro1
that which / vas accustomed to hav
before my eyes. How in the world ha
such q strange phenomenon happened?
But this was nothing. For two
three evenings, shut up in my stud.
writing-alone in the large apartment
l thought / heard singular noises hel
and there. arose from the desk, WEI
out of the study and all through tt
house, carefully examining every %
stopping now in this one, now in that,
listen. Nothing. The rooms were d
serted; the silence was complete, pr
found.
Then l returned to my study and s.
to work again. But the noises persiste
and became more decided and frequen
l would have sworn that some my
terious and invisible being was scratc
ing in the walls or forcing some loo
One evening indeed it seemed to n
that the noise was just behind me, and