the animals now began to look forward to the evening story-telling—the way people do to regular habits that are pleasant. and for the next night they arranged among themselves before-hand that it should be dab-dab's turn to tell a tale.
after they were all seated on the veranda the housekeeper preened her feathers and in a very dignified voice began:
"on the outskirts of puddleby-on-the-marsh there lives a farmer who swears to this day that his cat can understand every word he says. it isn't true, but both the farmer and his wife think it is. and i am now going to tell you how they came to get that idea.
"once when the doctor was away in scotland, looking for fossils, he left me behind to take charge of the house. the old horse in the stable complained to me one night that the rats were eating up all his corn. while i was walking around the stable, trying to think out what i should do about it i spied an enormous white persian cat stalking about the premises. now, i myself have no love for cats. for one thing, they eat ducklings, and for another, they always seem to me sort of sneaky things. so i ordered this one to get off the doctor's property. to my surprise, she behaved very politely—said she didn't know she was trespassing and turned to leave. then i felt sort of guilty, knowing the doctor liked to be hospitable to every kind of animal, and, after all, the cat wasn't doing any harm there. so i overtook her and told her that if she didn't kill anything on the place she could come and go as she pleased.
"well, we got chatting, the way people do, and i found out that the cat lived at a farmer's house about a quarter of a mile down the oxenthorpe road. then i walked part of the way home with her, still chatting, and i found that she was a very agreeable individual. i told her about the rats in the stable and the difficulty i had in making them behave, because the doctor wouldn't allow any one to kill them. and she said, if i wished, she'd sleep in the stable a few nights and the rats would probably leave as soon as they smelled her around.
"this she did, and the results were excellent. the rats departed in a body and the old horse's corn-bin was left undisturbed. then she disappeared and for several nights i saw nothing of her. so one evening i thought it would be only decent of me to call at her farm down the oxenthorpe road, to thank her.
"i went to her farm and found her in the farm-yard. i thanked her for what she had done and asked her why she hadn't been around to my place of late.
"'i've just had kittens,' she said. 'six—and i haven't been able to leave them a moment. they are in the farmer's parlor now. come in and i'll show them to you.'
"so in we went. and on the parlor floor, in a round basket, there were six of the prettiest kittens you ever saw. while we were looking at them we heard the farmer and his wife coming downstairs. so, thinking they might not like to have a duck in the parlor (some folks are so snobbish and pernickety, you know—not like the doctor), i hid myself behind a closet door just as the farmer and his wife came into the room.
"they leaned over the basket of kittens, stroked the white cat and started talking. now, the cat didn't understand what they said, of course. but i, being round the doctor so much and discussing with him the differences between duck grammar and people's grammar, understood every word they uttered.
"and this is what i heard the farmer say to his wife: 'we'll keep the black and white kitten, liza. i'll drown the other five to-morrow morning. won't never do to have all them cats running around the place.' his grammar was atrocious.
"as soon as they had gone i came out of the closet and i said to the white cat: 'i shall expect you to bring up these kittens to leave ducklings alone. now listen: to-night, after the farmer and his wife are in bed, take all your kittens except the black and white one, and hide them in the attic. the farmer means to drown them and is going to keep only one.'
"the cat did as i bade her. and next morning, when the farmer came to take the kittens away, he found only the black and white one—the one he meant to keep. he could not understand it. some weeks later, however, when the farmer's wife was spring cleaning, she came upon the others in the attic, where the mother cat had hidden them and nursed them secretly. but they were now grown big enough to escape through the window and they went off to find new homes for themselves.
"and that is why to this day that farmer and his wife swear their cat can understand english, because, they say, she must have heard them when they were talking over the basket. and whenever she's in the room and they are gossiping about the neighbors, they always speak in whispers, lest she overhear. but between you and me, she doesn't really understand a single word they say."
