“Oh, yes—yes, certainly!”
He put his hand through my arm and walked with me up and down the lawn.
“You must not take it seriously,” said he. “It would grieve meinexpressibly if you curtailed your visit by one hour. The fact is—thereis no reason why there should be any concealment between relatives—thatmy poor dear wife is incredibly jealous. She hates that any one—male orfemale—should for an instant come between us. Her ideal is a desertisland and an eternal _tête-à-tête_. That gives you the clue to heractions, which are, I confess, upon this particular point, not very farremoved from mania. Tell me that you will think no more of it.”
“No, no; certainly not.”
“Then light this cigar and come round with me and see my littlemenagerie.”
The whole afternoon was occupied by this inspection, which included allthe birds, beasts, and even reptiles which he had imported. Some werefree, some in cages, a few actually in the house. He spoke withenthusiasm of his successes and his failures, his births and his deaths,and he would cry out in his delight, like a schoolboy, when, as wewalked, some gaudy bird would flutter up from the grass, or some curiousbeast slink into the cover. Finally he led me down a corridor whichextended from one wing of the house. At the end of this there was aheavy door with a sliding shutter in it, and beside it there projectedfrom the wall an iron handle attached to a wheel and a drum. A line ofstout bars extended across the passage.
“I am about to show you the jewel of my collection,” said he. “There isonly one other specimen in Europe, now that the Rotterdam cub is dead.It is a Brazilian cat.”
“But how does that differ from any other cat?”
“You will soon see that,” said he, laughing. “Will you kindly draw thatshutter and look through?”
I did so, and found that I was gazing into a large, empty room, withstone flags, and small, barred windows upon the farther wall.
In the centre of this room, lying in the middle of a golden patch ofsunlight, there was stretched a huge creature, as large as a tiger, butas black and sleek as ebony. It was simply a very enormous and verywell-kept black cat, and it cuddled up and basked in that yellow pool oflight exactly as a cat would do. It was so graceful, so sinewy, and sogently and smoothly diabolical, that I could not take my eyes from theopening.
“Isn’t he splendid?” said my host, enthusiastically.
“Glorious! I never saw such a noble creature.”
“Some people call it a black puma, but really it is not a puma at all.That fellow is nearly eleven feet from tail to tip. Four years ago hewas a little ball of black fluff, with two yellow eyes staring out ofit. He was sold me as a new-born cub up in the wild country at thehead-waters of the Rio Negro. They speared his mother to death after shehad killed a dozen of them.”
“They are ferocious, then?”
“The most absolutely treacherous and blood-thirsty creatures upon earth.You talk about a Brazilian cat to an up-country Indian, and see him getthe jumps. They prefer humans to game. This fellow has never tastedliving blood yet, but when he does he will be a terror. At present hewon’t stand any one but me in his den. Even Baldwin, the groom, dare notgo near him. As to me, I am his mother and father in one.”
As he spoke he suddenly, to my astonishment, opened the door and slippedin, closing it instantly behind him. At the sound of his voice the huge,lithe creature rose, yawned, and rubbed its round, black headaffectionately against his side, while he patted and fondled it.
“Now, Tommy, into your cage!” said he.
The monstrous cat walked over to one side of the room and coiled itselfup under a grating. Everard King came out, and taking the iron handlewhich I have mentioned, he began to turn it. As he did so the line ofbars in the corridor began to pass through a slot in the wall and closedup the front of this grating, so as to make an effective cage. When itwas in position he opened the door once more and invited me into theroom, which was heavy with the pungent, musty smell peculiar to thegreat carnivora.
“That’s how we work it,” said he. “We give him the run of the room forexercise, and then at night we put him in his cage. You can let him outby turning the handle from the passage, or you can, as you have seen,coop him up in the same way. No, no, you should not do that!”
I had put my hand between the bars to pat the glossy, heaving flank. Hepulled it back, with a serious face.
“I assure you that he is not safe. Don’t imagine that because I can takeliberties with him any one else can. He is very exclusive in hisfriends—aren’t you, Tommy? Ah, he hears his lunch coming to him! Don’tyou, boy?”
A step sounded in the stone-flagged passage, and the creature had sprungto his feet, and was pacing up and down the narrow cage, his yellow eyesgleaming, and his scarlet tongue rippling and quivering over the whiteline of his jagged teeth. A groom entered with a coarse joint upon atray, and thrust it through the bars to him. He pounced lightly upon it,carried it off to the corner, and there, holding it between his paws,tore and wrenched at it, raising his bloody muzzle every now and then tolook at us. It was a malignant and yet fascinating sight.
“You can’t wonder that I am fond of him, can you?” said my host, as weleft the room, “especially when you consider that I have had the rearingof him. It was no joke bringing him over from the centre of SouthAmerica; but here he is safe and sound—and, as I have said, far the mostperfect specimen in Europe. The people at the Zoo are dying to have him,but I really can’t part with him. How, I think that I have inflicted myhobby upon you long enough, so we cannot do better than follow Tommy’sexample, and go to our lunch.”
My South American relative was so engrossed by his grounds and theircurious occupants, that I hardly gave him credit at first for having anyinterests outside them. That he had some, and pressing ones, was soonborne in upon me by the number of telegrams which he received. Theyarrived at all hours, and were always opened by him with the utmosteagerness and anxiety upon his face. Sometimes I imagined that it mustbe the turf, and sometimes the Stock Exchange, but certainly he had somevery urgent business going forwards which was not transacted upon theDowns of Suffolk. During the six days of my visit he had never fewerthan three or four telegrams a day, and sometimes as many as seven oreight.
I had occupied these six days so well, that by the end of them I hadsucceeded in getting upon the most cordial terms with my cousin. Everynight we had sat up late in the billiard-room, he telling me the mostextraordinary stories of his adventures in America—stories so desperateand reckless, that I could hardly associate them with the brown little,chubby man before me. In return, I ventured upon some of my ownreminiscences of London life, which interested him so much, that hevowed he would come up to Grosvenor Mansions and stay with me. He wasanxious to see the faster side of city life, and certainly, though I sayit, he could not have chosen a more competent guide. It was not untilthe last day of my visit that I ventured to approach that which was onmy mind. I told him frankly about my pecuniary difficulties and myimpending ruin, and I asked his advice—though I hoped for something moresolid. He listened attentively, puffing hard at his cigar.
“But surely,” said he, “you are the heir of our relative, LordSoutherton?”
“I have every reason to believe so, but he would never make me anyallowance.”
“No, no, I have heard of his miserly ways. My poor Marshall, yourposition has been a very hard one. By the way, have you heard any newsof Lord Southerton’s health lately?”
“He has always been in a critical condition ever since my childhood.”