As your cloth glided over the first trinket - a proud Siamese with sapphire eyes - memories flooded back. This had been a gift from the Duchess of Meowington after you expertly handled Lady Whiskerton's participation in the Annual Feline Nobility Ball. The Duchess had been so impressed with how you prevented a catfight between Lady Whiskerton and her rival that she commissioned this piece specially.

Moving to a playful kitten figurine with a ball of yarn, you smiled. This commemorated the time a stray kitten wandered into the gardens during a terrible storm. Against all protocol, you'd nursed it back to health in secret, though of course Lady Whiskerton knew - she always knew. When the kitten was adopted by the local vicar, she'd placed this trinket on your pillow without a word.

The most elaborate piece - a cat wearing a miniature crown - held bittersweet memories. It marked the year Lady Whiskerton's mother, Queen Purrington the Third, passed away. You'd stayed up seven nights straight preparing special meals and keeping vigil with your mistress, though you were just a junior butler then. When the mourning period ended, this appeared on your bedside table with a single pawprint in the dust.