Perhaps the True "Humanity" of Cats

A description of the last days of Virginia Clemm-Poe, written by a friend:

"There was no clothing on the bed, which was only straw, but a snow-white counterpane and sheets. The weather was cold, and the sick lady had the dreadful chills that accompany the hectic fever of consumption. She lay ... wrapped in her husband's great coat, with a large tortoiseshell cat on her bosom. The wonderful cat seemed conscious of her great usefulness. The coat and the cat were the sufferer's only means of warmth, except as her husband held her hands, and her mother her feet."

From The Extraordinary Mr. Poe, by Wolf Mankowitz, Summit Books, 1978

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The cat's name was Caterina.