Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/161

Rh Mimi pleased Bob from the first, though he was careful never to let her forget her proper station. If, for example, she had any food he wanted, or if others showed her special attention, he would seize her chain, draw her up to him, and bite her forcibly in the neck, which is the time-honored sign of domestic supremacy in Borneo. At this she would squeal lustily, but she never offered resistance or showed any kind of resentment. Masculine supremacy is acknowledged in the tribe of Macacus as in that of Cercopithecus. Often Bob would draw Mimi to him to bite her in the neck, apparently to remind her of his superiority. At night they slept together in one box, each with a soft arm round the other's waist.

Nanette, who came later, was also of the tribe of Macacus, but she was of a different branch of the great family. She was much larger than Mimi, nearly as large as Bob himself. She had lived in a French family, where she had acquired her name and her calm, considerate manner. She was a gentle blonde, with a pensive, averted face, as though the present was merely an object of toleration with her. Evidently Nanette had had a history, but what that history was no one now can tell. Perhaps there was no history, and her sadly patient expression came from the absence of one.

Mimi was soon very jealous of Nanette, but without good reason, for Bob treated Nanette with uniform contempt, pushing her about and biting her in the neck whenever she came near him. In this Mimi would assist, often seizing Nanette's chain and pulling her about till she was brought within Bob's reach. After a time Mimi's former master returned; she went back to her