read my fate in her eyes, when their lids are down. I'll lick her hand
very respectfully and ever so lightly! That will wake her and oh, may
her first caress drive away the evil charm!

(_He licks the hand hanging at the side of the chair_.)

SHE, (_with a scream_) Heavens! how you frightened me! Was there ever
such a ninny as this Dog? There!...

(SHE _administers a smart rap on the nose_. TOBY'S _nerves give way and
he howls loud and long_.)

SHE

Quiet! Not a word I say! Out of my sight! I don't know what's the
matter, but I hate you! And that Cat sitting there, looking at me, like
a bump on a log!...

KIKI-THE-DEMURE, (_bristling_)

If She dares to touch me, I'll devour her!

(_Just at this dangerous crisis a low rumbling is heard, distant and
then near. Impossible to tell whether it comes from the horizon, or
arises in the house itself. All three lose interest in the quarrel_.

TOBY-DOG _and_ KIKI-THE-DEMURE _slink away, as if responding to a
signal, and seek shelter, one under the bookcase and the other under an
armchair_. SHE _turns anxiously to the leaden-hued garden, and the great
violet bank of cloud, which of a sudden is riven by a blinding streak of