Daisy Part 8

Miss Eleanor said: "I had her in my lap, when Topsy came in, and as she seemed to be amiable, I laid little Pearl by the side of her. Topsy began to lick her fur, and then she allowed her to nurse. But it was only a feeble effort; her little lips fell away from her mother's breast, and with one soft sigh little Pearl's short life ended."

Topsy looked at her for one moment, then, with a piteous mew, she rushed out of the room and never returned till Miss Milly found her, and, taking her in her arms, comforted her.

They took a strong pasteboard box and laid in some wool and a soft handkerchief, and little Pearl looked lovely on the soft white bed. They put geraniums and white flowers around her; for she had played often in the fragrant beds they plucked them from. Then the box was closed up and put in a back room till morning. They made Topsy keep an unwilling vigil to keep away rats.

In the morning they engaged three children belonging to a poor family living near them to dig a grave. They came armed with shovels and spades enough to dig many miles. Miss Milly said she worked harder as overseer than she would at digging the grave alone. They were willing to work, but ignorant of the way.

It was a very pathetic sight,--a dark cloudy day, the sun obscured, the wind rustling through the trees, and even the flowers drooped their heads; Miss Eleanor, with the box in her arms, and Miss Milly with the improvised grave-diggers standing by the open grave.

Miss Milly held Topsy in her arms; but it was hard work, she made such frantic efforts to free herself. At last she did escape, and ran up the apple tree, and out on the branch that hung over the open grave. Here she looked down on them, while they laid away her dear little kitten.

After the grave-diggers had raked the earth over the spot, and received their money and departed, Miss Eleanor and Miss Milly put fresh flowers around it and a large pot containing a nice geranium in the middle.

Topsy had come down from her perch and roved about the garden as if possessed by an evil spirit. They had gone into the house but a short time, when she trampled all the flowers on the grave under her feet and knocked over the flower pot. Then she roved back and forth till she found a neighbor's cat, with whom she had a feud of long standing, and worked off all her sorrow in a free fight, where she proved the victor, and at night she returned to the house just as composed as usual. She never visited little Pearl's grave to their knowledge again.

The house where the family lived was large and old-fashioned,--one of the houses Salem was noted for at that time, long ago given up to the march of improvement. It belonged to a wealthy sea-captain in the India trade. Since his death it had not been cared for or repaired, and was therefore within the means of a small family. The remains of his extensive wine cellar consisted of a mult.i.tude of empty bottles.

Topsy was very fond of this cellar. They often remarked that she probably found kindred spirits of the past, for she always surprised them with some practical joke on her return to the upper regions.

One day, just at dusk a crash came that shook the house. The sound came from the cellar, and on taking a light there, they found the floor covered with bottles. Through some unknown agency, Topsy had moved a shelf, and all the bottles had fallen to the floor. There she sat on a barrel, looking on. If ever a cat delighted in a sensation, she did.

Quite a young girl lived with them, to help the girl of all work. She got the impression that the house was haunted. She said the doors would fly open without visible agency, and the bells all over the house would ring, and when she answered them, every one would be surprised; they had not touched them. They explained to her that the wind moved the old-fashioned latches, and the doors, being old, would fly open.

Possibly rats would move the bell wires and make them ring. It is impossible to uproot a belief in the supernatural out of the mind of an ignorant child.

She said: "It is that black witch cat Topsy. She is an evil spirit. I shut her up at night in the kitchen, Molly says she never let her up; but there she is, upstairs, all over the house, during the night."

They could not persuade her to stay, and after she left the mystery was solved, as such mysteries almost always can be, in a very common, matter-of-fact manner. Miss Eleanor said at the time that she thought her room was the way Topsy came, though how, she could not say.

One night, about eleven o'clock, being very wakeful, she heard a slight scratching sound at the door. She sat up in bed and watched. She was not afraid, for she was sure the mystery was about to be solved. Another rattle of the latch, then the door opened wide, swinging back, with some long black thing hanging from the latch. It was Topsy. She had jumped up and knocked up the latch with her head, holding on the lower part with her paws, and in this way had entered the room every night.

Changes came to their home, and the death of their mother made a break in the household. They moved to Boston and were perplexed about Topsy.

What could they do with a cat of her restless nature in a few rooms?

What could she do without a large house and garden to roam about in, and, above all, how could she leave that cellar? The people who took the house were very anxious to keep her, and at last it was decided to leave her on trial.

Miss Milly said, "After what we have pa.s.sed through, as we are breaking the last tie to home, one parting more we can bear."

After a few weeks Miss Eleanor went down to see about Topsy. She had a tale of woe to listen to. They said: "Topsy searched the house after you left, and at night she caterwauled in the hall in the most fearful manner, and paid not the least attention to us, when we tried to coax her. She refused all food, preferring to steal all that she wanted. She at last took to the cellar, and would not come up. We put food and drink for her every day, and it was gone, so we supposed she took it."

They said the night before she had made such a racket that it seemed as if there were a dozen cats with her. They had that day decided to write, asking what could be done with her.

When they opened the cellar door, and called her, no answer came; but the moment Miss Eleanor went to the door, and said, "Topsy," she flew up the stairs like lightning, and into Miss Eleanor's arms, just like a child. She held her so tight she could hardly remove her claws from her shoulder.

"This decides it. I shall have to take her," Miss Eleanor said; "and indeed I could not face Milly without her, now that we know how unhappy she has been."

They loaned her a shawl, and in it she wrapped Topsy, who followed every movement with her yellow eyes, though she kept as quiet as a lamb. Her trust was perfect; she knew she had found her own. She made no trouble on the journey by cars to Boston, keeping her eye on Miss Eleanor's face out of one corner of the shawl.

They were perfect slaves to her, keeping her in one room. Boarding was not very convenient, even with a quiet, well-behaved cat but with her it was a dreadful experience. She had come to Boston, a great and gay city, and she did mean to see the sights. The very first Sunday she crawled out of the window, though it was only open a very little; but she squeezed herself out on to the balcony that ran around several of the houses in that block, and Miss Milly went all over the street hunting for her. Being a stranger, it was very hard. At last Topsy was found on the balcony just outside the next house, all in a heap, and for once well frightened.

After Mrs. Rice and the boys came from the South, and they had a home, she was very happy, and it was then my mother met her, about which event I have already written.

I did pity them; at the last, to lose her in such a manner was very hard.

Miss Milly was so sad after this that Miss Eleanor said she hoped she would never tell Topsy's story again. Miss Milly would say, taking me in her arms, "I never felt comforted till I had my Daisy."

This pleased me, and made me very careful to do just as they told me to.

I was very glad I had heard Topsy's story. My opinion is, that the witches wanted her and called her home. Very likely she rides on their shoulders when they go through the air on a broomstick.

XI

REMINISCENCES

I was suffering much from my shoulder just at this time, but we were very quiet, and I enjoyed lying on the lounge or in their laps and listening to the stories of the pets they had loved in their childhood.

Miss Eleanor would read aloud, and indeed (you may laugh if you please) I could understand the nice things she selected.

One day she found some of Martin Luther's sayings. He one day remarked to his dog, that was growling, "Don't growl, little Hans, for in the resurrection thou, too, shalt have a little golden tail."

Miss Milly caught me up, saying, "Thou, too, Daisy, shalt go to heaven, and have golden bells on thy collar, for thy tail is more lovely than a golden one could be."

"How absurd you are!" said Miss Eleanor.

"Well, I do not think it absurd to believe we shall have our dear pets in the hereafter; heaven would not be heaven without them. G.o.d has not given them to us to love, without making provision for their hereafter.

We have no little hands and feet waiting for us on the 'golden sh.o.r.e,'

but little paws of all colors I know will be extended in welcome, and we shall be happy with our own again."

This comfortable doctrine suited me and made me very happy. Knowing that I could not live many years longer, the thought of an eternal separation from my loved ones would have been unbearable.

I did try to be good and be a comfort to them, but often my good resolutions were put to a hard test.

My mistress had one young friend who detested cats. She was very beautiful, and they loved her very much. She came to see us one day, and after greeting them affectionately, she said as her eye fell upon me, "Oh! have you got that old Tom cat now?"

How I bristled up! But Miss Milly was equal to her. "Would you like to have me speak of one of your children in this manner?" she said.

"I should think not," replied her friend; "but this is only a cat."

"And a cat that we both love as dearly as you love your children."

My rage at being called a "Tom cat" knew no bounds; it seemed to degrade me, and I thought to myself, "How can I avenge this insult?"

One can always find a chance to do wrong, and mine came at once. I espied her hat, gorgeous with feathers, birds, and wings, and brilliant beading. To my great discomfort--for it was very scratchy--I seated myself on the crown. I had no compunction when I heard the crunching of the beads and feathers, as I bent them under me. They seemed to say, "Tom cat,--indeed!"

I sat there till I felt pride had been sufficiently levelled; and as I chewed the delicate end of one of the expensive feathers, I felt that I might (in vulgar phrase) call myself even with her. Then I went under the bed, where I could with safety witness the impending tempest.

I was not disappointed. Words are powerless to express her wrath. Had her wishes been consulted, I should never have seen the light of another day.

When I saw how my mistress was distressed over my wickedness, my conscience did p.r.i.c.k a little, though I did not repent. I had been called a "Tom cat," and for once I acted like one.