Paula the Waldensian - Eva Lecomte

Monsieur Dumas, and the other is her cousin, Mademoiselle Paula Javanel."
"Paula Javanel! Paula Javanel!" repeated the Breton as if trying to
remember something. "I think I've heard that name before," and he looked
fixedly at Paula for some seconds, and then suddenly he laughed
immoderately. "Yes, yes; now I remember! Ha! ha! ha! Now I know! You're
the 'Cat Mother'!"
"Cat Mother!" and Celestina looked much puzzled. "What on earth do
you mean?" I had completely forgotten the ridiculous nickname that the
Breton's son had given her, for the boy had run away from home several
years ago.
"They called me that," explained Paula, "because I once saved a cat's
life."
But the strong coffee had quite restored the Breton's good humor and he
hastened to add, "Yes, she did; but she hasn't told the whole story! She's the
only person in the whole village that was ever brave enough to stand up to
that big brat of mine. She wrenched the cat out of his hands, and the boy
came back to the house, I remember well, with a pair of ears well pulled and
the air of a whipped dog."
"But I didn't pull his ears," said Paula, reddening.
"Well, if you didn't, who did, then?"
But Paula shook her head and would say nothing further.
"Well, anyway, I remember that the boy was made fun of by the whole
neighborhood, and to revenge himself he gave her 'Cat Mother' for a
nickname. He, too, is a bad one like his father. To tell the truth he never
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