But just then , Mrs. Dr. dear , you will see I was at a disadvantage , being taken so completely by surprise . Some men , I am told , consider a little preliminary courting the proper thing before a proposal , if only to give fair warning of their intentions ; but Whiskers-on-the-moon probably thought it was any port in a storm for me and that I would jump at him . Well , he is undeceived -- yes , he is undeceived , Mrs. Dr. dear . I wonder if he has stopped running yet . '' `` I understand that you do n't feel flattered , Susan . But could n't you have refused him a little more delicately than by chasing him off the premises in such a fashion ? '' `` Well , maybe I might have , Mrs. Dr. dear , and I intended to , but one remark he made aggravated me beyond my powers of endurance . If it had not been for that I would not have chased him with my dye-pot . I will tell you the whole interview . Whiskers sat down , as I have said , and right beside him on another chair Doc was lying . The animal was pretending to be asleep but I knew very well he was not , for he has been Hyde all day and Hyde never sleeps . By the way , Mrs. Dr. dear , have you noticed that that cat is far oftener Hyde than Jekyll now ? The more victories Germany wins the Hyder he becomes . I leave you to draw your own conclusions from that . I suppose Whiskers thought he might curry favour with me by praising the creature , little dreaming what my real sentiments towards it were , so he stuck out his pudgy hand and stroked Mr. Hyde 's back . ` What a nice cat , ' he said . The nice cat flew at him and bit him . Then it gave a fearful yowl , and bounded out of the door . Whiskers looked after it quite amazed . ` That is a queer kind of a varmint , ' he said .
I agreed with him XXXXX that point , but I was not going to let him see it .
If as before by from in of on that towards