TobermoryIt was a cold，rain－washed afternoon in late August.Lady Blemley and her guests were sitting round the tea table.Everyone was listening open－mouthed to Mr Cornelius Appin.Although he was one of her guests，Lady Blemley did not know Mr Appin well.She had invited him to stay at Blemley House because she had heard that he was clever.But until teatime that day he had not done or said anything clever.He did not play tennis，or sing，or make intelligent conversation.But now Mr Appin was describing a most extraordinary discovery and the other guests were listening with deep interest.'Are you telling us that you have found a way of teaching animals to talk？'Sir Wilfred was saying.'And our dear old Tobermory is your first successful student？''I have studied this problem for seventeen years，'said Mr Appin，'but I didn't have any real success until eight or nine months ago.Of course， I have studied thousands of animals，but recently I have worked only with cats.A cat，of course，is a wild animal who agrees to live with you.All cats are intelligent，but naturally some cats are more intelligent than others.When I met Tobermory a week ago，I realized at once that here was an extraordinarily intelligent cat，a very special cat indeed.
