The present is her
whole existence; the past but a confused dream. The odd part of
the matter is that she regards her position with me as a
perfectly natural one. No stray kitten adopted by a kind family
could have less sense of obligation, or a greater faith in the
serene ordering of the cosmos for its own private and peculiar
comfort. When I asked her a while ago what she would have done
had I left her on the bench in the Embankment Gardens, she
shrugged her shoulders and answered, as she had done before, that
either she would have died or some other nice gentleman would
have taken care of her.
"Do you think nice gentlemen go about London looking for homeless
little girls?" I asked on that occasion.
"All gentlemen like beautiful girls," she replied, which brought
us to an old argument.
This afternoon, however, we did not argue. The day forbade it.
I lay with my head on Carlotta's lap, looking up into the deep
blue, and feeling a most curious sensation of positive happiness.
My attitude towards life has hitherto been negative.
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