about noon
they were my abhorrence ; I should have liked nothing better than to have been the death of every one of them . In fact , on one occasion , I intimated the propriety of a canine crusade to Mehevi but the benevolent king would not consent to it . He heard me very patiently ; but when I had finished , shook his head , and told me in confidence , that they were `` taboo . '' As for the animal that made the fortune of my lord mayor Whittington , I shall never forget the day that I was lying in the house about noon , everybody else being fast asleep ; and happening to raise my eyes , met those of a big black spectral cat , which sat erect in the doorway , looking at me with its frightful goggling green orbs , like one of those monstrous imps that tormented some of the olden saints ! I am one of those unfortunate persons , to whom the sight of these animals is at any time an insufferable annoyance . Thus constitutionally averse to cats in general , the unexpected apparition of this one in particular utterly confounded me . When I had a little recovered from the fascination of its glance , I started up ; the cat fled , and emboldened by this , I rushed out of the house in pursuit ; but it had disappeared .