The Spectator., 1915-11-26
THE BLACK CAT
By LOUISE OLIVER.

IOH lue OlHCc. I1e udu WdlkSu aiI the way home in vain to find a way out of very embarrassing dilemma.
 Betty Hollister and he were to be married within the month and he had just discovered that he was almost without cent in the world. Donald, his younger brother at college, had got into trouble and there was no one else to help him. The check he had mailed in the afternoon had just about cleaned him out. Unless some miracle happened, there was nothing left in the stocking.
 There was no way he could think of to postponing the wedding without breaking Bettys heart. All of her arrangements were complete and he had heard her say once that she would rather die than change the date of her wedding.
 Yes. there was a possible way-juSt mere chance as slim as spiders thread. Jim Barlow had dropped in that day and advised him to invest in Cascade Steel. Jack never played the market, but Jim did with more or less luck, and when Jack had replied that he couldn't afford it, Jim had offered to lend him the wherewithal. | He took out his latchkey and un- l locked the front door as a nearby clock started to strike 12. AS he l turned the knob, something soft rubbed against his legs. He opened the door and the hall light revealed Jet black cat that started to pur con- | tentedly as it turned for another rub l against his trousers.
 Midnight and black cat | Jack looked cautiously around. He had come from a New England town and was as full of superstitions as a cantaloupe is of seeds. Surely this was lucky sign. He must keep the cat Nothing could be more hazardous to luck than to turn it loose now. But
 His landlady hated cats. and. be- sides, she was relative of Betty. Betty must never know about the cat because the one thing they ever dis agreed about was Jacks "supersti- tion," as practical Betty put it. But this lucky sign meant that he was almost sure to win if he took up Jims offer of the morning. It had to be done! He picked up the cat and held it under his coat as he slipped stealthily up to his room.
 Early the next morning Betty. look ing pale and hollow eyed. met Jack at the front door on his way to work. She eyed the travelling bag he carried curiously, but he explained hastily that he was carrying papers to the office.
 i He had been up since dawn trying to devise methods of feeding and hid ing his new pet. For two hours he had looked out of the window in vain i for milkman. The trunk. the cup board and each bureau drawer had elicited only dismal yowls of lonesome ness. There was nothing for it but to carry his good luck fetish back and could feed 4 and keep an eye onsA through the day. Better the jcers of the boys than the wrath of Betty.
 A few days passed-days of more than one kind of anxiety for Jack. First, there was Cascade Steel. which couldn't decide whether to go up or down. Then there was the cat. which made him the butt of thousand jokes at the office and miserable at the house nightly for fear of discovery. But, last of all, Betty had taken no- tion' to droop
 She was as sweetly alluring as ever. but there was something indefinable about her he could not understand. She protested that she was well-yet she was pale and abstracted and her thoughts seemed to be miles away. She started at every sound and flew to the door every time she heard an unusual noise.
 Jack was worried Their wedding day was approaching and Betty got worse instead of better.
 One thing, however-Cascade Steel was doing we'll and in a couple of days he hoped to clear all he had lost and pay back Jim's loan.
 hSii tAiC Ndt NouiN SO WllutI IL would. In the meantime he watched it with renewed vigilance.
 But the cat got away! One night Jack woke up with feeling of dis aster. His first thought was for pus- sy. Sure enough-its bed in the open wardrobe drawer was empty. A thor ough search of the room proved futile and the transom solved the riddle.
 He slipped into a few clothes and peered cautiously out into the hall, then felt his way slowly downstairs. The parlor, by the light of a match. was catless! Then he started for the dining room and stopped. hearing a feminine voice. The door stood open | just enough for him to see Betty in the middle of the floor hugging his black cat and rubbing her cheeks again it's sleek head He didn't even know she was in the house.
 "Oh. Niggy, dear, I'm so glad 1 fnupd ynn cha ernnnad tsItva lnolod