I was not base enough to forget
that he had been my friend in need, even if he had been less amiable to
me since. All that evening I lay on his breast and slept. _But I dreamt
of the mouse!_
The next morning he went out riding.
"He will not miss me now," thought I. "I will devote the morning to
hunting through that wretched room inch by inch, for the last time. It
will satisfy me that the mouse is not there, and it really is a duty to
try and convince myself of this, that I may be cured of an infatuation
which causes annoyance to so excellent a master."
I hurried off as rapidly as befitted the vigour of the resolution, and
when I got into the saddle-room I saw the mouse. And when the mouse saw
me he fled like the wind.
I confess that I should have lost him then, but that a hole on which he
had reckoned was stopped up, and he had to turn.
What a chase it was! Never did I meet his equal for audacity and
fleetness. But I knew the holes as well as he did, and cut him off at
every one. Round and round we went--behind the barrel, over the
corn-chest, and then he made for the middle of the room.
Now, amongst all the rubbish which Terence had collected about him,
there were many old articles of clothing belonging to the Captain,
including a pair of long riding-boots, which had been gathering mildew,
and stiffening out of shape in their present position ever since I came.
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