Story of a Cat - Thomas Bailey Aldrich - Bog

A story of Mother Michel and her cat.

There lived in Paris, under the reign of King Louis XV., a very rich old countess named Yolande de la Grenouillère. She was a worthy and charitable lady, who distributed alms not only to the poor of her own parish, Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, but to the unfortunate of other quarters. Her husband, Roch-Eustache-Jérémie, Count of Grenouillère, had fallen gloriously at the battle of Fontenoy, on the 11th of May, 1745. The noble widow had long mourned for him, and even now at times wept over his death. Left without children, and almost entirely alone in the world, she gave herself up to a strange fancy,-a fancy, it is true, which in no manner detracted from her real virtues and admirable qualities: she had a passion for animals. And adopts a cat. However while she is away on a trip her jealous butler tries very hard to get rid of the cat.
The original French story is based on a French nursery rhyme from the 1820s, 'C'est la mere Michel'.