"You
take it to its proper table. This is my table."
At first, "Justice" was generally satisfied with half a crown, but
as time went on cats rose. I had hitherto regarded cats as a cheap
commodity, and I became surprised at the value attached to them. I
began to think seriously of breeding cats as an industry. At the
prices current in that village, I could have made an income of
thousands.
"Look what your beast has done," said one irate female, to whom I
had been called out in the middle of dinner.
I looked. Thomas Henry appeared to have "done" a mangy, emaciated
animal, that must have been far happier dead than alive. Had the
poor creature been mine I should have thanked him; but some people
never know when they are well off.
"I wouldn't ha' taken a five-pun' note for that cat," said the
lady.
"It's a matter of opinion," I replied, "but personally I think you
would have been unwise to refuse it. Taking the animal as it
stands, I don't feel inclined to give you more than a shilling for
it. If you think you can do better by taking it elsewhere, you do
so."
"He was more like a Christian than a cat," said the lady.
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