"A faint noise broke upon my ear, and my heart grew sick, but I strode into the darkness, calling, hoarsely:
"Again the faint sound. Something was stirring there among the shadows--a shape moving softly along the wall, a shade which glided by me, paused, wavered, and darted under the bed. Then I threw myself on the floor, profoundly moved, begging, imploring my aunt to come to me.
"'Aunty! Aunty!' I murmured. 'Your nephew is waiting to take you to his heart!'
"At last I saw my great-aunt's eyes shining in the dark."
The young man's voice grew hushed and solemn, and he lifted his hand in silence:
"Close the door. That meeting is not for the eyes of the world! Close the door upon that sacred scene where great-aunt and nephew are united at last."
A long pause followed; deep emotion was visible in Miss Barrison's sensitive face. She said:
"No," replied Mr. Kensett, in a mortified voice.
"Because," he said, "although my fiancée was prepared to accept a cat as her great-aunt, she could not endure the complications that followed."
"What complications?" inquired Miss Barrison.
The young man sighed profoundly, shaking his head.
"My great-aunt had kittens," he said, softly.
The tremendous scientific importance of these experiences excited me beyond measure. The simplicity of the narrative, the elaborate attention to corroborative detail, all bore irresistible testimony to the truth of these accounts of phenomena vitally important to the entire world of science.
We all dined together that night--a little earnest company of knowledge-seekers in the vast wilderness of the unexplored; and we lingered long in the dining-car, propounding questions, advancing theories, speculating upon possibilities of most intense interest. Never before had I known a man whose relatives were cats and kittens, but he did not appear to share my enthusiasm in the matter.
"You see," he said, looking at Miss Barrison, "it may be interesting from a purely scientific point of view, but it has already proved a bar to my marrying."
"No," he said, "my aunt drew the color-line, I am proud to say."
"I don't see," said Miss Barrison, "why the fact that your great-aunt is a cat should prevent you from marrying."
"It wouldn't prevent _me_!" said the young man, quickly.