THE ST0RM

_A suffocating summer's day in the country. The blinds of the house arehalf closed. Not a sound is heard from within; not a murmur from theparched garden, where even the sensitive leaves of the mimosa hangmotionless_.

KIKI-THE-DEMURE _and_ T0BY-D0G _begin to feel uncomfortably conscious ofthe coming storm, which is yet but a slate-green plinth thickly paintedat the bottom of the dull green sky-wall._

T0BY-D0G, (_restlessly lying first on one side, then on the other_) Nouse! I can't be comfortable. What does this heat mean anyway? I must besick. It began at breakfast; I didn't like the meat and sniffeddisdainfully at my hound-biscuit. Something awful is going to happen. Ihaven't done anything wrong that I know of--my conscience is clear--andyet, I'm suffering. There lies my chum, shivering and unable to sleep. Iknow by his quick breathing that he feels just as I do.... I say, Cat?