Back in England Tilly called from the kitchen.
"Johnny, come and have a look at this."
He came through from the garden, scraping the soil from his boots before he came in the door.
Tilly was standing by the washing machine looking down into the laundry basket. He came up beside her and put his arm around her shoulder as he looked where she was looking. There, in the laundry basket, was Smut, surrounded by several small furry things. For a moment Johnny thought they might be rats and reared back slightly. And then the truth dawned on him and he began to laugh, slowly at first and then gathering momentum until it had become loud guffaws.
Tilly joined in.
Smut was a girl! Not the same cat then. The original Smut had been, without doubt, a tom. He used to get into fights and come home b
