And now the lady lowers her eyes to him and smiles, as once she smiled at me.
Then, bang! a stern hand pulls the shutters to. And it was as if all the violets in all the baskets of all the flower-sellers drooped and faded at once; and spring stopped dead in its tracks and might, this time, not e at all; and the bustle and the business of the square, that had so magically quieted for his song, now rose up again with the harsh clamour of the loss of love.
Arudge drearily off to dirty sheets and a mean supper of bread and cheese, all I steal him, but at least the poor soul mas a hearty appetite now she knows hes in the world and not the ugliest of mortals; for the first time sihat fateful m, sleeps sound. But sleep es hard to Puss tonight. He takes a midnight stroll across the square, soon fortably discusses a choice morsel of salt cod his tabby friend found among the ashes on the hearth before our verse turns to other matters.
"Rats!" she says. "And take your boots off, you uncouth bugger; those three-inch heels wreak havoc with the soft flesh of my underbelly!"
When wed recovered ourselves a little, I ask her what she means by those "rats" of hers and she proposes her scheme to me. How my master must pose as a rat-catcher and I, his ambulant marmalade rat-trap. Hoill then go kill the rats that ravage miladys bedchamber, the day the old fool goes to fetch his rent, and she have her will of the lad at leisure for, if there is ohing the hag fears more than a cat, it is a rat and shell cower in a cupboard till the last rat is off the premises before she es out. Oh, this tabby one, sharp as a tack is she; I gratulate her iy with a few affeate cuffs round the head and home again, for breakfast, ubiquitous Puss, here, there and everywhere, whos yaro?
Master applauds the rat ploy; but, as to the rats themselves; how are they to arrive in the house in the first place? he queries.
"Nothing easier, sir; my aplice, a witty soubrette who lives among the ders, dedicated as she is to the young ladys happiness, will personally strew a large number of dead and dying rats she has herself collected about the bedroom of the said ingenues duenna, and, most particularly, that of the said ingenue herself. This to be doomorrow m, as soon as Sir Pantaloon rides out to fetch his rents. By good fortune, down in the square, plying for hire, a rat-catcher! Since ot abide either a rat or a cat, it falls to milady to escort the rat-catcher, her than yourself, sir, and his intrepid hunter, myself, to the site of the iion.
"Once youre in her bedroom, sir, if you dont know what to do, then I t help you."
"Keep your foul thoughts to yourself, Puss."
Some things, I see, are sacrosanct from humour.
Sure enough, prompt at five in the bleak m, I observe with my owhe lovely ladys lubberly husband hump off on his horse like a sack of potatoes to rake in his dues. Were ready with n: SIGNOR FURIOSO, THE LIVIH OF RATS; and in the leathers hes borrowed from the porter, I hardly reise him myself, not with the false moustache. He coaxes the chambermaid with a few kisses -- poor, deceived girl! love knows no shame -- and so we install ourselves under a certain shuttered window with the great pile of traps shes lent us, the sign of our profession, Puss perched atop them bearing the humble yet determined look of a sworn enemy of vermin.
Weve not waited more than fifteen minutes -- and just as well, as many rat-pla