With
hair on end and stiffened paws, he looked his new master in the face, in
a harsh and cruel manner. The young man did not like cats, and Francois
almost terrified him. In this moment of excitement and alarm, he
imagined the cat was about to fly in his face to avenge Camille. He
fancied the beast must know everything, that there were thoughts in
his strangely dilated round eyes. The fixed gaze of the animal caused
Laurent to lower his lids. As he was about to give Francois a kick,
Therese exclaimed:
"Don't hurt him."
This sentence produced a strange impression on Laurent, and an absurd
idea got into his head.
"Camille has entered into this cat," thought he. "I shall have to kill
the beast. It looks like a human being."
He refrained from giving the kick, being afraid of hearing Francois
speak to him with the voice of Camille. Then he said to himself that
this animal knew too much, and that he should have to throw it out of
the window. But he had not the pluck to accomplish his design. Francois
maintained a fighting attitude. With claws extended, and back curved
in sullen irritation, he followed the least movement of his enemy with
superb tranquillity. The metallic sparkle of his eyes troubled Laurent,
who hastened to open the dining-room door, and the cat fled with a
shrill mew.
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