I represented _something_ to her, after all--even though
the instinct of the prodigal cat had driven her hither. I am
sure it had never crossed her mind that my doors might be shut
against her. Her first words were, "I have come home." The
first thing she did when we went into the drawing-room after
dinner was to fondle my hand and lay it against her cheek and
say, with a deep sigh:
"I am so happy."
However shallow her butterfly nature was, these things came from
its depths. No man can help feeling pleased at a child's or an
animal's implicit trust in him. And the pleasure is of the
purest. He feels that unreasoning intuition has penetrated to
some latent germ of good in his nature, and for the moment he is
disarmed of evil. Carlotta, then, came blindly to what was best
in me. In her thoughts she sandwiched me between the cat and the
cook: well, in most sandwiches the mid-ingredient is the most
essential.
She curled herself up in the familiar sofa-corner, and as it was
a chilly night I sent for a wrap which I threw over her limbs.
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