The Press., 1898-12-08
CHAMBER OF CATS.

"There's only one reason I hate to have him come, said Mrs. Blackstone. "Only one, and that's enough, goodness knows!"
 "The cats?'' inquired MT. Blackstone.
 "The darned catsI" rejoined his wife. with vIndictive emphasis.
 "I'll tell him about the cats when write, " said MT. Blackstone. He did Here is the letter:
 DEAR REGULCs-Of course we want you to come, and of cot rse there is plenty of room, though it isn't the best kind of room, the good wife fears. You must know our fiat is row and long the lane between your own mansion and that where you house your COWS. Our guest chamber is the last room of all at the rear. It is the biggest and the lightest, hut we dcn't use it to sleep in because of the cats. The international cat dueling ground for the borough of Manhattan is under the windows. Why don't we kill 'em? When one dies, six come and bewail his death. So we evacuated the room for night and live in the place the landlord calls the guest chamber. There isn't time before you come to take the bed steads down and transpose them. It takes ten days to do that, including the time spent in hospital.
 So, if you can stand the cats, come, and we hope you will win your case. Sincerely, WILLIAM BLACKSTONE To the Hon. Regulus McShane District At. torney's Office, - County, N. Y.
 The Hon. Regulus McShane arrived on Saturday evening, and was con- ducted to his room. There were win dows on two sides of the room. The bed ran obliquely into the room between them. On each of the unwindowed sides was a closet door. One closet ran through to the bedroom of the Blackstones. It contained a fixed washstand and the family medicine shelves. The shelves of the other closet were piled high with discarded shoes, empty mineral water bottles and fragments of broken furni- ture.
 "Therer' said MT. Blackstone, as he opened the door of this closet and point ed with pride to the display on the shelves. That is your only relief from cats. Thatis the magazine. When they begin to howl, lombard them. Use the Spanish method. Don't hit Ii you do, they'll only make twice as much noise. ''
 The district attorney smiled grimly.
 "I rather think I'll stay awake for fear I shouldn't wake up when they begin to sing"
 Dent you think, my dear," her husband said, "don"t you think it is time to let the weary traveller within our fiat go to the chamber of cats? You trot 10 bed and I'll take Regulus and show him what beautiful decorations there are inside the refrigerator. She went her way and they wen, | theirs. So well did the up country dig nitary appreciate the refrigerator that it was near midnight when he parted with his host at the door of the chamber of cats. As they passed her door, Mrs. Blackstone noticed that the district at. torney's feet seemed to drag a little.
 "Poor thing, she said to herself, a, she winked sOlemnly at her pillow. "He is tired. Perhaps he can't helI dragging his feet, the responsibility oi carrying those lovely shoes is heavy heavy"-
 As she dozed, she heard her husband saying:
 "If you can, old man, you better un dress in the dark. The mosquitoes art awful up here. We would have put ir screens, but if we had you couldn't have got at the cats"
 It was perhaps an hour later when Mrs. Blackstone awoke. The night wal very still. She wondered what had walked her. In moment she knew.
 "Pr-r-r-ow- -wowr' came the chal lenge from half block away. "Pr-r-r owr'
 "Er-wowur' came the answer from under the back window.
 Will" said Mrs Blackstone hoarse ly to the next pillow, Will, wake up They're coming" She sat up and clap ped her hands softly in her glee.
 "Lemme know when they get here, ' mumbled Blackstone as he dug his head into the pillow again. Mrs. Blackstone sat up and listened.
 "Pr-r-r-ow-wowp The challenger was drawing nearer. Not one, but three voices answered him. For 8 moment, as they converged, all was silent. Then came masterly battlecry. It was like that of 6-mcnths-old infant who hal swallowed his bib pin.
 twill, " said Mrs Blackstone, wake up! They've come. " He sat up and rubbed his eyes ... In the next room they heard the bump and pounding of bare feet on the floor. They heard door open and the clinking of glass.
 |