Now that Box was dead Grey Puss had only mankind to fear!
She hated mankind, which surpassed even her in cunning and
rapacity--and yet, she could never forget that she had once been a
member of the human household.
Mankind was her strong, invincible rival! Once for all, on the occasion
when it had lured her into the sack and flung her into the water, it
had imbued her with such terror of its incredible treachery that she
could not bear to hear, smell, or see it. But none the less in the
depths of her soul she admired it immensely....
She hated it, so that she could have torn its throat asunder, and
yet she loved it so intensely that she erected her tail and purred
contentedly at the mere thought of rubbing her back once more against a
pair of trousered legs.
This never-ceasing struggle between her own personality and the
instinct inherited from a thousand generations of man-serving ancestors
was at times so intense that on many a still, dark night she had
sneaked home to the farm fully determined to remain; but at daybreak
the rough sounds of wooden clogs and men’s voices broke the spell, and
she had fled again to the fields....