One of those dreadful midnight meetings had just broken up the night before last and I’d gone a bit of the way home when I found I‘d left my pipe behind. It was a real good ’un， an old favourite， so I went back to look for it. But before I got to the place where I‘d been sitting （it was black as pitch there） I heard a cat’s voice say Mew and a Calormene voice say ‘here . . . speak softly，’ so I just stood as still as if I was frozen. And these two were Ginger and Rishda Tarkaan as they call him.
“ ‘Noble Tarkaan，’ said the Cat in that silky voice of his， just wanted to know exactly what we both meant today bout Aslan meaning no more than Tash.‘“ ’Doubtless， most sagacious of cats，‘ says the other， ’you ave perceived my meaning.‘“ ’You mean，‘ says Ginger， ’that there‘s no such person as ither.’ ““ ‘All who are enlightened know that，’ said the Tarkaan. “ ‘Then we can understand one another，’ purrs the Cat. “ ‘Do you， like me， grow a little weary of the Ape？’
“ ‘A stupid， greedy brute，’ says the other， ‘but we must use im for the present. Thou and I must provide for all things secret and make the Ape do our will.’
