Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/59

 scroll, nodded, grinned—his mouth gaping blood-red with betel—and snarled something over his shoulder. A mysterious scuffle rose in the back shop, and presently a neat-bodied little Luk-Chin woman came clambering over a heap of brass-work, hugging three rebellious cats close to her kerchiefed breast.

Poured sprawling upon the platform, the cats tried vainly to bolt, then sat ruffled and indignant, darting side glances of sullen light.

"Isn't he a beauty?" cried Miss Holborow.

"Careful," Scarlett warned her. "Don't admire. Let me do the bargaining; may I?"

"The big fellow is the only one to buy, sir," Borkman advised. Before the ladies, his manner seemed unnaturally subdued, his genius rebuked. "Don't buy the little ones, Mr. Scarlett, that's all. The big chap would fetch fifty to a hundred pounds in London, as he stands."