This put a stop to Lootie's reproaches. She had been on the point of
saying that the long-legged cat must have been a twilight fancy of the
princess's, but the memory of the horrors of that night, and of the
talking-to which the king had given her in consequence, prevented her
from saying that which after all she did not half believe--having a
strong suspicion that the cat was a goblin; for the fact was that she
knew nothing of the difference between the goblins and their
creatures:
she counted them all just goblins.
Without another word she went and got some fresh tea and bread and
butter for the princess. Before she returned, the whole household,
headed by the housekeeper, burst into the nursery to exult over their
darling. The gentlemen-at-arms followed, and were ready enough to
believe all she told them about the long-legged cat. Indeed, though
wise
enough to say nothing about it, they remembered with no little horror,
just such a creature amongst those they had surprised at their gambols
upon the princess's lawn. In their own hearts they blamed themselves
for
not having kept better watch. And their captain gave order that from
this night the front door and all the windows on the ground floor
should
Madhuri Noah
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