Page:The Book of Cats.djvu/46

28 "But I sleep very lightly, your reverence."

"Come in and see your master," said the priest solemnly.

They crept in, white with fear and stepping noiselessly. They gazed on the shocking spectacle transfixed with horror. Then a cry of "Who can have done it?" burst from all lips.

"Who, indeed?" repeated the cook.

The priest desired Giuseppe to look round the premises, and count the plate, and ascertain if there had been a robbery, or if any one was concealed about the house. The man returned without throwing any new light upon the mystery; but, in his absence, while surveying the room more carefully than he had previously done, the priest's eye met those of the Cat glowing like lurid flames, as he sat crouching in the shade near a curtain. The orbs had a fierce malignant expression, which startled him, and at once recalled to his recollection the angry and sullen demeanour of the creature during dinner.

"Could it possibly be the Cat that killed him?" demanded of the cook the awe-struck priest.

"Who knows?" replied he; "the beast was surly to others, but always seemed to love him fondly; and then the wound seems as though it were made with a weapon."