"Tobermory" is a half-comical, half-sinister story published in 1911 in the Chronicles of Clovis. It is, primarily, the story of an incident concerning a cat named Tobermory, who has the curious ability of being able to speak perfect English.
The story is set at the country estate of Lady Blemley, where guests gathered and met Cornelius Appis, a man who had also been staying at the estate and claims that he taught the family cat, Tobermory, how to speak like humans.
Upon bringing out the cat, the guests begin to ask it questions, which he answers quite arrogantly. He is not only a smart-mouth, but he has no filter when he speaks, as he starts to tell information about the guests, which he had been observing as a casual passer-by of the household, the way cats tend to do.
Noticing how dangerous the cat and his knowledge of their private goings-on is, the guests start feeling uneasy and plot to poison the cat at some point. Meanwhile, Tobermory is still a feline with animal instincts. He continues to behave and react like a cat in other aspects, especially when it comes to his penchant to chase and fight with his rival, the other neighborhood tomcat.
When Tobermory notices the presence of the other cat, he runs after it and they get in a deadly fight that leaves Tobermory dead. Upon discovering his body, Lady Blemley writes an angry letter to the Rectory because it was that cat who killed Tobermory. At the end of the story, it is discovered that Appis was killed by an elephant in Dresden, Germany, as he tried to teach the animal how to talk.
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