E-text prepared by D. Alexander, Ronnie Sahlberg, Joseph Cooper,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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THE STORY OF A CAT
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
EMILE DE LA BÉDOLLIÈRE
By
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
With Silhouettes by L. Hopkins
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1878, BY HOUGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY T. B. ALDRICH
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY MARY ELIZABETH ALDRICH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE
THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
PREFACE.
M. Bédollière’s charming story of MotherMichel and her cat was turned into English for theentertainment of two small readers at the writer’sfireside. Subsequently the translation was fortunateenough to find a larger audience in the pages of apopular juvenile magazine. The ingenious and spiritedseries of silhouettes with which Mr. Hopkinshas enriched the text is the translator’s only pleafor presenting in book form so slight a performanceas his own part of the work.
THE STORY OF A CAT.
CHAPTER I.
HOW MOTHER MICHEL MADE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF
HER CAT.
herelived in Paris, under thereign of King Louis XV., a veryrich old countess named Yolandede la Grenouillère. She was aworthy and charitable lady, whodistributed alms not only to thepoor of her own parish, Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois,but to the unfortunate of other quarters.Her husband, Roch-Eustache-Jérémie, Count of Grenouillère,had fallen gloriously at the battle of Fontenoy, onthe 11th of May, 1745. The noble widow had longmourned for him, and even now at times wept overhis death. Left without children, and almost entirelyalone in the world, she gave herself up to astrange fancy,—a fancy, it is true, which in nomanner detracted from her real virtues and admirablequalities: she had a passion for animals. Andan unhappy passion it was, since all those she had possessedhad died in her arm