Monsignor was a handsome yellow cat belonging to us while we were living
in the cellar of Señor Errazu's chalet.
From what I have since learned, his name was a tribute to the
extraordinary reputation enjoyed at that period by Monsignor Simeoni.
Monsignor--I am referring to the yellow cat--was intelligent. A bell
surmounted the Castillo de la Mota at San Sebastian, by whose side was
stationed a look-out. When the look-out spied the flash of Carlist guns,
he rang the bell, and then the townspeople retired into the doorways and
cellars.
Monsignor was aware of the relation of the bell to the cannonading, so
when the bell rang, he promptly withdrew into the house, even going so
far sometimes as to creep under the beds.
My father had friends who were not above going down into our cellar on
such occasions so as better to observe the manoeuvres of the cat.