The true philosopher and other cat tales . upset, that the af-fairs of state had all to be postponed till the followingday. The tree was, of course, cut down; and the nextday the cat found crawling down the gutter to be justas easy, and jumped in the window while the courtwas at breakfast. The King scrambled onto the break-fast table, skillfully overturning the cream and the cof-fee with one foot, while planting the other in thepoached eggs, and wreaking untold havoc among theteacups. Again the affairs of state were postponedwhile the gutter was ripped off the roof, to the furyof the head gard
The true philosopher and other cat tales . upset, that the af-fairs of state had all to be postponed till the followingday. The tree was, of course, cut down; and the nextday the cat found crawling down the gutter to be justas easy, and jumped in the window while the courtwas at breakfast. The King scrambled onto the break-fast table, skillfully overturning the cream and the cof-fee with one foot, while planting the other in thepoached eggs, and wreaking untold havoc among theteacups. Again the affairs of state were postponedwhile the gutter was ripped off the roof, to the furyof the head gardener, who had just planted his springseeds in the beds around the palace walls. Of coursethe next rain washed them all away. This sort of thing continued. The wistaria vine whichhad covered the front of the palace for centuries,was ruthlessly torn down, the trellises along the wingssoon followed; and finally an ancient grape arbor hadperforce to be removed as it proved a sure means ofdescent for that invincible cat. Even then, he clever-. AND OTHER CAT TALES 25 ly utilised the balconies as a ladder to the ground; butby this time the poor Kings nerves were quite shat-tered and the doctor was called in. All he could pre-scribe was a total abstinence from cat; and the Queen,tearfully finding a home for her pet, composed herselfto live without one. The King, well cared for, soonrevived and was himself again, placidly conducting theaffairs of state, and happy in the society of his belovedwife. Not so the latter. Before long it was noticed that the Queen grew wan,was often heard to sniff, and seen to wipe her eyes,would not eat, could not sleep,—in short, the doctorwas again called in. Dear, dear, he said disconsolately, combing hislong beard with his thin fingers. This is a difficultsituation indeed. There must not be a cat on the pre-mises, or the King will assuredly have nervous pros-tration. Yet the Queen must have a cat or she willpine quite away with nostalgia. *T think I had
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1919
