Part 8 (1/2)

”Black furs are not fas.h.i.+onable this winter,” said Tommie. ”Next?”

Everybody laughed when they saw that the tanner hadn't paid money for his information, and so, presumably, didn't like it. But strangely enough, instead of discouraging this led them on to try their luck; and the next person who came to ask Tommie a question was poor, old, half-blind Henley the miser. He put his mouth close to the cat's ear, so the people behind him wouldn't catch what he said, and in a hoa.r.s.e voice he asked, ”Say, old whiskers, will my fine s.h.i.+p loaded with dates and spices reach Norway safely?”

”Yes, it will,” said Tommie, ”long before your withered old soul will reach a haven of peace.”

Henley was so excited over the first words that he didn't even hear the last ones. He hopped about on one leg, and was rus.h.i.+ng off at last when Tommie cried, ”Heigh-O, you haven't paid me!”

The miser felt in his pockets and drew out a silver coin and laid it on the handkerchief.

”Not at all,” said Tommie. ”Remember the Worth of that cargo! Gold or nothing.”

Henley began to whine. ”I'm a poor old man, Tommie. I'll leave the cream jug on the doorstep every day and no questions will be asked!”

”I'm not a thief,” answered Tommie. ”Mother Huldah brought me up better than that. Come, you don't want to have any quarrel with a black cat.”

Whereupon Henley reluctantly drew from his pocket a gold piece, while all the villagers opened their eyes very wide, and wondered what Tommie could have told the old gentleman to make him so liberal.

The next person to come up was a little shy girl named Clara. She had big brown eyes and fair floating hair, and under her white chin and about her little white wrists were soft furs; for her father was a wealthy moneylender. She came close to Tommie and whispered, ”Tell me, beautiful p.u.s.s.y, if I shall ever win the love of Joseph Grange.”

Tommie winked his right eye several times and replied, ”My dear, I see it coming!”

She flushed with joy. ”And what shall I do to hasten it?”

Tommie reflected a moment. ”Be pleasant, but not anxious. A lady with an anxious expression has little chance of winning a lover! Don't invite him too often; don't talk too much. Now I haven't hurt your feelings, have I?”

”No, indeed,” she said, for she was a young lady of good sense. ”And Tommie, dear, will you take these gold pieces to Mother Huldah. She was so good to me when I was a little girl, and because I have been so absorbed in my own affairs I haven't been to see her lately.”

”That's the trouble with being in love,” said Tommie, ”it's apt to make people selfish, and it should make them love and remember everybody. It does when it's the real thing.”

Little Clara clasped her hands earnestly. ”I will come to see Mother Huldah this afternoon,” she said, ”and bring her some cakes of my own baking.”

After Clara one person and another came up. Some asked foolish questions, some wise. Some paid down money, others didn't, but the pile of gold and silver at Tommie's feet grew steadily.

Now all novelties, even talking cats, soon cease to be novelties, and towards afternoon when the villagers saw how much of their money lay at Tommie's feet, some of them began to be discontented. Of these the tanner was the ringleader, and he said to the other grumblers, ”If we can get that lying cat off the pump, we can then take his money. I have three big rats in the trap at the tannery, and I know Tommie is starving hungry by this time. We'll let 'em loose on the ground in front of the pump. When he makes a spring one of you grab the money and run.”

Now the tanner had guessed right. Tommie was hungry, but he was determined to keep his post until sundown. After a while no more people came, and he was just thinking he would take up the handkerchief by the four corners and go home, when he espied a group of people approaching.

Suddenly, oh, me, oh, my! three dinners were scampering towards him, such rats, such big, splendid rats in fine condition. Tommie had never used such self-control in all his nine lives, but he sat tight and though his whiskers showed his agitation he never budged.

The tanner was mad clear through, and he cried out, ”He's a wizard; he ought to be killed” because some people can't see others controlling themselves without thinking there's something wrong with them. Then he began to make s...o...b..a.l.l.s and to pelt poor Tommie. Now Tommie, as has been said, was a good dodger, but nevertheless when it rains s...o...b..a.l.l.s it's hard not to get hit. It might have fared badly with him had not some knights and ladies at that moment appeared on the scene in the train of the beautiful Princess Yolande, one of the fairest princesses in all the realm. She rode a great white horse, and she was robed in cream velvet and white furs, while about her slender waist was a girdle of gold set with sapphires which were as blue as her eyes. By her side rode Lord Mountfalcon. He was all in black armor, for he was mourning a brother who had died in the distant war.

Love as well as grief filled his heart, for his dark eyes were continually upon the beautiful Princess, who now reined in her horse and cried out in a sweet voice, ”Shame upon you men to hurt a poor cat.”

”He is a wizard and he belongs to a witch,” called out the tanner.

”O what a wicked lie,” said Tommie. ”I don't care what names you call me, but my mistress is one of the best women in the land. She has come to poverty in her old age. For her sake and to get her a little money, I've sat here all day answering truthfully all questions. Now, dear Princess Yolande, believe me, for I am a true cat.”

The Princess was so astonished that she couldn't speak for a moment. At last she turned to Lord Mountfalcon and said: ”Truly, we have come to wonderland. I'd rather believe the cat than the people who were pelting him, and I have a mind to test his powers. Let us alight and ask him questions.”

Then they all dismounted and with the pages and the ladies and the gentlemen in armor the scene was as gay as the stage of an opera.