Monitoring the archaeological proceedings is a rather fine feline, one who has a particular interest in these goings-on. Library cat (for it is he) has long been deprived of his rightful domain & is keen to reassert his command. Scurrying creatures, beware! Your Nemesis is nigh!
Many a library is graced by a Presiding Genius - a bust of its founder or Minerva with her owl, symbolic of learning & wisdom: a piece of antique statuary, fragmented & patinated by Time’s remorseless hand, redolent of civilisations lost for all eternity. Sadly, financial circumstances at Tottering Piles do not encourage classical sensibilities. Rather than an allegorical Patience on her monument, library cat will rule from his roost atop the tallest & least stable of the randomly piled book stacks. Those hypocaust-like heaps of volumes that litter the wooden floor will be as grist to his mill, mere stepping-stones on the way to achieving the lofty eminence he seeks. Up on the library table is the vantage point required. One more leap & the highest summit is reached. From here, both mice & humans can be quelled with a basilisk stare.
Lest you think that library cat is a bit of a tough proposition, I must assure you that he has his softer side. Once he has the situation firmly under his paw & is reassured of his comfort & convenience, there will be purrings & ticklings & a more relaxed relationship with his humans, if not with trespassing rodents. The special association between cats & books has often been remarked on, & is doubtless a subject to which I shall return in due course. But for now, let us return to the site of heroic endeavour at the library door & see what is visible in the gloom beyond the seal …
