"it will probably be necessary," said smith, as they set out for groome street, "to allude to you, comrade john, in the course of this interview, as one of our most eminent living cat-fanciers. you have never met comrade jarvis, i believe? well, he is a gentleman with just about enough forehead to prevent his front hair getting inextricably blended with his eyebrows, and he owns twenty-three cats, each with a leather collar round its neck. it is, i fancy, the cat note which we shall have to strike to-day. if only comrade brown were with us, we could appeal to his finer feelings. but he has seen me only once and you never, and i should not care to bet that he will feel the least particle of dismay at the idea of our occiputs getting all mussed up with a black-jack. but when i inform him that you are an english cat-fancier, and that in your island home you have seventy-four fine cats, mostly angoras, that will be a different matter. i shall be surprised if he does not fall on your neck."