FTP, name this British author of "Sredni Vashtar," also known for "The Open Window."
He wrote of a baroness who posits that a gypsy child being devoured by a hyena "may have been crying from sheer temper" as "children sometimes do."  Lucien and the Major die in a blaze trying to rescue a painting that is actually at the cleaner's in his "The East Wing," while Eric and Bertie receive a municipal dust bin and an action figure of John Stuart Mill that they turn into a gunboat and the Marshall Saxe in his "The Toys of Peace."  Mr. Appin's lessons allow the title cat to talk, and it proceeds to spill intimate secrets of guests at Lady Blemley's party in his "Tobermory," while another of his stories tells of a caretaker named Mrs. De Ropp, who is killed by Conradin's deified polecat-ferret.  FTP, name this British author of "Sredni Vashtar," also known for "The Open Window."
He wrote of a baroness who posits that a gypsy child being devoured by a hyena "may have been crying from sheer temper" as "children sometimes do."  
{Saki} or Hector Hugh {Munro} (4) [AH]