“Sthop that!” he shouted.  “I’ll have none av yer foolin’ t’-day.  What fer are ye puckerin’ up yer nose at th’ cat fer?  There’s nawthin’ th’ matther with th’ cat.  ‘Tis as sound as a shillin’, an’ there ’s no call fer ye t’ be sniffin’ ‘round, Timmy, me lad!  Go about yer worrk, an’ lave th’ cat alone.  ’Twill kape—­’twill kape a long time yet.  Don’t be so previous, me lad.  If ye want t’ sniff, there ’ll be plinty av time by an’ by.  Plinty av it.”

“Ye ain’t goin’ t’ keep th’ cat, are ye?” asked Timmy with surprise.

“Let be,” said Flannery softly, with a gentle downward motion of his hands.  “Let be.  If ’tis me opinion ‘t w’u’d be best t’ kape th’ cat fer some time, I will kape it.  Mike Flannery is th’ ixpriss agint av this office, Tim, me bye, an’ sh’u’d he be thinkin’ ‘t w’u’d be best fer th’ intherists av th’ company t’ kape a cat that is no longer livin’, he will.  There be manny things fer ye t’ learn, Timmy, before ye know th’ whole av th’ ixpriss business, an’ dead cats is wan av thim.”

“G’wan!” said Timmy with a long-drawn vowel.  “I know a dead cat when I see one, now.”

“Mebby,” said Flannery shortly.  “Mebby.  An’ mebby not.  But do ye know where Doc Pomeroy hangs out?  Go an’ fetch him.”

As Timmy passed the box on the way out he looked at the cat with renewed interest.  He began to have a slight doubt that he might not know a dead cat when he saw one, after all, if Flannery was going to have a veterinary come to look at it.  But the cat certainly looked dead—­extremely dead.

Doc Pomeroy was a tall, lank man with a slouch in his shoulders and a sad, hollow-chested voice.  His voice was the deepest and mournfullest bass.  “The boy says you want me to look at a cat,” he said in his hopeless tone.  “Where’s the cat?”

Flannery walked to the box and stood over it, and Doc Pomeroy stood at the other side.  He did not even bend down to look at the cat.

“That cat’s dead,” he said without emotion.

“Av course it is,” said Flannery. “‘Twas dead th’ firrst time I seen it.”

“The boy said you wanted me to look at a cat,” said Doc Pomeroy.

“Sure!” said Flannery.  “Sure I did!  That’s th’ cat.  I wanted ye t’ see th’ cat.  What might be yer opinion av it?”

“What do you want me to do with the cat?” asked Doc Pomeroy.

“Look at it,” said Flannery pleasantly.  “Nawthin’ but look at it.  Thim is me orders.  ‘Have a veterinary look at th’ cat,’ is what they says.  An’ I can see be th’ look on ye that ’tis yer opinion ’tis a mighty dead cat.”

“That cat,” said the veterinary slowly, “is as dead as it can be.  A cat can’t be any deader than that one is.”

“It cannot,” said Flannery positively.  “But it can be longer dead.”

“If I had a cat that had been dead longer than that cat has been dead,” said Doc Pomeroy as he moved away, “I wouldn’t have to see it to know that it was dead.  A cat that has been dead longer than that cat has been dead lets you know it.  That cat will let you know it pretty quick, now.”