"Before a death in a house I have watched a cat show gradually
increasing signs of uneasiness. It has moved from place to place, unable
to settle in any one spot for any length of time, had frequent fits of
shivering, gone to the door, sniffed the atmosphere, thrown back its
head and mewed in a low, plaintive key, and shown the greatest
reluctance to being alone in the dark.

"This faculty--possessed by certain cats--may in some measure explain
certain of the superstitions respecting them. Take, for example, that of
cats crossing one's path predicting death.

"The cat is drawn to the spot because it scents the phantom of death,
and cannot resist its magnetic attraction.

"From this, it does not follow that the person who sees the cat is going
to die, but that death is overtaking someone associated with that
person; and it is in connection with the latter that the spirit of the
grave is present, employing, as a medium of prognostication, the cat,
which has been given the psychic faculty of smell that it might be so
used.

"But although I regard this theory as very feasible, I do not attribute
to cats, with the same degree of certainty, the power to presage good
fortune, simply because I have had no experience of it myself. Yet,
adopting the same lines of argument, I see no reason why cats should not
prognosticate good as well as evil.

"There may be phantoms representative of prosperity, in just the same
manner as there are those representative of death; they, too, may also
have some distinguishing scent (flowers have various odours, so why not