The Cat and the King

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All right—all right,” she breathed before ever I could put a question. “And Bethell, yes; I knew you’d be here, too. Ah, what’s that?” A very cute little mouse—Hagiwara,” was the only comment my companion made during the drive down to the South Gate and the hotel. So, that's how I have spent this last weekend. Now, I get to go to YouTube university and find how to make the most of my new toys. The Girl took the hand of Bethell and of Prince Min Yung in turn, and nodded the good-by which she could not speak. His majesty, who was sniveling quietly, she ignored. My friend,” she said, turning a quiet smile into my eyes as I sat by her side in the state carriage which had been sent to fetch us, “this is the biggest game I’ve ever stalked, and—and I am supremely happy.”

Then, on the third night, came the message from the palace. How Prince Min Yung had contrived the circuitous channel of its delivery passed my comprehension, for it was one of Bethell’s printers who tiptoed in the bar from a rear entrance and whispered something in the vernacular into the editor’s ears. Bethell’s eyes snapped. They choose Number 37 Castle Close, and the cat introduces the King to all sorts of new experiences, from washing-up to shopping.Something big, Billy,” Bethell whispered hoarsely as the door closed behind us. “Whopping big; and she, the Girl, and I will need you. Come!” A King and his companion/friend, the Cat, live together in a castle, until an Unfortunate Incident burns their home to the ground and they are forced to move with their meagre possessions to a semi-detached suburban house. The King has never washed up before, moved a box, bought shopping. The Cat and he navigate their new world and meet their neighbours - will they be able to acclimatise and fit in in this very different world? Once he says that he will have to consult the soothsayers and get a favorable time set for his departure; he cannot take such an important step without the consent of the gods and devils.

Run along now, Billy,” she urged, “and be prepared to jump out of Korea itself if worse comes to worst. They’ll strike in the dark, you know, if they get desperate, and—and nobody wants to be a ‘damp, demnition body’!” But they must not know,” Bethell broke in impetuously. “They are all secretly in Japanese pay, and if a word, a whisper, of this should get to their ears, Hasegawa would have the palace surrounded by troops within an hour. You—you alone—must have the secret. You must find a way to-morrow to get a word to his majesty’s ear; to tell him why the Girl comes to paint his portrait. There will be private sittings; you must be on hand to act as interpreter. Then you and she, alone with the emperor, can convince him of the wisdom of this course. Every detail of the flight can be arranged between you during the hours his majesty gives up to the sittings.” No, not to my father,” she said, reading the query in my eyes. “But to the man who is behind all this plan of ours—the one whose name I gave you the night I arrived here. Innocent enough, isn’t it? Just a happy girl, telling the good news of her success to her daddy. Well, you keep this, my friend. When you get word from me file it yourself; not here, but down at Chemulpo, where Hagiwara’s eye is weak. Don’t fail to get it off immediately, for when I give the word for its filing, hours will count.”

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Will somebody come up to my room?”—it was the Girl’s voice. Bethell and I exchanged glances of apprehension—“I have just had to shoot a burglar.” I was presented to the great man in my turn, and then I began a furtive search for the Girl. I found her the center of a group of Japanese notables, with Hagiwara hovering slavishly at her elbow. I cannot hope to reproduce here the sallies of wit, the ready pleasantries, all of the verbal ammunition of a past mistress in the art of social generalship by which this dazzling woman kept ever under her power a devoted circle of slant-eyed gallants. Indeed, her Japanese admirers had to share her attentions with several men from the legations, who occasionally managed to break through the embargo; but I noticed that the Girl carefully played her cards so as to keep by her always the sedulous Higawara. She seemed to be using Hagiwara’s countrymen as a sort of screen to protect her assault in force, which was upon that selfsame unsuspecting little dandy. Not for near half an hour did I manage to get within safe earshot of her, and that was for the few minutes that Hagiwara was absent on a mission of forage for delicacies. We'll put the old beggar on his horse, whether he likes it or not,” Bethell finally growled. “Then off with him to the boat.”