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“This cat is missing a leg," he remarked to Beatrix. "Yes, I would have named her Nelson, after the one-armed admiral, but she's female. She belonged to the cheesemaker until her foot was caught in a trap." "Why did you name her Lucky?" Annandale asked. "I hoped it would change her fortunes." "And did it?" "Well, she's sitting in the lap of an earl, isn't she?" Beatrix pointed out, and Annandale laughed outright. He touched the cat's remaining paw. "She is fortunate to have been able to adapt." "She was determined," Beatrix said. "You should have seen the poor thing, not long after the amputation. She kept trying to walk on the missing leg, or jump down from a chair, and she would stumble and lose her balance. But one day, she woke up and seemed to have accepted the fact that the leg was gone for good. And she became nearly as agile as before." She added significantly, "The trick was forgetting about what she had lost... and learning to go on with what she had left." Annandale gave her a fascinated stare, his lips curving. "What a clever young woman you are.” — Lisa Kleypas