Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-07-12
THE STUFFED CAT.

was all alone one evening in my study.
 Do you not know this study? That is natural because I never have introduced you to it. Perhaps you would not like it. like it very much-first of all be- cause it is mine, and then because have arranged it according 10 my tastes.
 There is little of everything in it-a | colossal writing desk with an ininity of drawers and pigeonholcs, a bookcase, some shelves for books, two tables, one large and one small; divan, an arm chair, on the floor rugs and cushions thrown down everywhere, pictures on the walls, gas lamp in the center. In one corner on top of column of black | wood is a stuffed Cat-a magnificent | tiger striped cat with sparkling green l eyes that seems ready to spring down from its pillar, tired probably of acting l Simeon StylteS.
 In this den or study, as you please to call it, l pass beautiful hours, day or evening, writing, reading, meditating, smoking and doing nothing.
 It is here that l retire in hours of the | blues, in those hours of unconscious, in stinStive i'll humor which one cannot ex- plain or justify and which exactly on | that account one translates into an ex- | traordinary nervous irritation. This den is the despair of my wife and the rest of the household because they are positively forbidden to touch, to even move book or a paper under that | pretext of putting into order which re- solves itself into real disorder. I will wager that if my wife, my sister-in-law, my nieccs, could arrange my den accord ing to their tastes, turning it upside down, they would be happy. But they do not venture for fear of me. Only when I speak of my study all those feminine lips curl with smiles, disdain- l ful, ironical or compassionate. It 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 have presented, so to say, the surroundings, will go on to relate the fact, the terrible, frightful fact that has taken place in my delicious den and to which I am indebted for the gray hairs that embellish my S6-year- old locks. | One evening in the autumn all my family was in the country. I only had staid in town to attend to some urgent l work.
 Twas all alone in the house. A wom- l J1Nnryojprr fn rlpov 3n sweep and air the rooms and went away | after noon. diued at n restaurant. Now, for some days 1 thought that 1 noticed in my study something strange, | odd, unacCustolned. It had the same effect upon me as if something were not | in it's place. I would have taken my oath that certain books had been moved, l certain papers had been rummaged. l Iquestioned tho domestic, who swore and perjurcd herself to tho effect that, faithful to her trust, she had touched nothing, but had limited herself to sweeping the floor and dusting the furni- ture. And no one else ever entered the | room.
 One morning it seemed to me that the stuffed cat, my good cat with the green eyes that called Tic when he was alive, had been touched. Certainly his attitude was not the same or I was dreaming. Yes, yes, his head was turned another way, and the expression of his face, that of an honest feline, was different from that which I was accustomed to have before my eyes. How in the world had such a strange phenomenon happened?
 But this was nothing. For two or three evenings, shut up in my study, Al.
 thought I heard singular noises here and there. arose from the desk, went out of the study and all through the house, carefully examining every room, stopping now ill this one, now in that, to listen. Nothing. The rooms were de- serted; the silence was complete, pro found.
 Then returned to my study and set
 to work again. But the noises persisted and became more decided and frequent.
 would have sworn that some mys- terious and invisible being was scratch
 ing in the walls or forcing some lock.
 One evening indeed it seemed to me
 that the noise was just behind me, and turned mechanically.
 Well, would have taken my oath
 that I saw the cat Tic move almost i'm perceptibly, and his eyes gleam brighter,
 and his back arch. and his bold, majestic
 tail stretch itself in an act of defiance. . But surely it was an hallucination, be-
 cause the cat was still in his place, inn
 passible, and gave no sign of moving
 from his column.
 All ithese small things. insignificant and
 extraordinary at the same time, had inn
 pressed and disturbed me. By instinct,
 by nature, I don't fancy what cannot
 explain. I am a foe to the supernatural,
 the marvellous, the mysterious. I like
 to see clearly within and around myself
 I, you see, am of a well balanced and
 saund temperament. Nervousness, nor.