AND HER CAT. 41

dainty feeder. He stretched out his nose towards the plate,
but the moment after he drew it away with an erect back;
for a most noxious and villanous smell had penetrated his
nostrils. He walked round the plate, smelt it again, and
then again drew away from it. The sagacious animal had
smelt the poison.

“ How singular this is!” said Dame Mitchell; and, after
vainly offering the plate to her cat, she went to look for
Sharpphiz, to tell him what she had seen. The traitor
heard her with suppressed vexation.

‘“ What!” said he, “did he refuse to eat? In that
case, I suppose, he was not hungry.”

“TI suppose so, too, Mr. Sharpphiz, for your pie looks a
splendid one; I should not disdain it myself; and I am
almost tempted to taste it, to set Mowmouth an example.”
When Daddy Sharp-
phiz heard this obser-
vation, in spite of his
hardness of heart, he
could not help shud-
dering. For a mo-
ment he shrunk with
horror from his crime,
= and he said, eagerly,

to the worthy dame,—
“For Heaven’s sake
donothing of the sort.”

“ And why so, pray? Is there any thing unwholesome
in the pie?” F

“No, of course not,” stammered Daddy Sharpphiz;
“but food for a cat is not food for a Christian. We must all
keep our places, and not debase the dignity of human
nature.” pat

Dame Mitchell yielded to this reasoning, and said with
some impatience,—

“ Well, well, let Mowmouth do as he pleases! I wo’n’t