Jag kunde inte hitta den direkt, men på den tredje sidan av Google-resultat hittade jag en Damon Knight-bok med titeln Skapa kortfiktion: Den klassiska handboken för att skriva kort fiktion , som citerade det som ett exempel på "Story of Decision":
Stories of this kind usually concern divided interests or loyalties. In John Collier's "The Steel Cat," for instance, a man has invented a better mousetrap: the mouse walks out along a beam to get the bait, the beam tilts, the mouse falls into a jar of water and drowns. The inventor has been all over the country demonstrating the trap with the aid of a beloved pet mouse, but without success. In Chicago he shows the trap to a buyer who is impressed, but who becomes suspicious when the inventor tries to rescue his pet; he won't believe the trap works until he sees the mouse dead. The anguished inventor lets it drown.
Stålkatten ingår i samlingen Fancies and Goodnights som jag nu minns var bland mina föräldrars samling tillsammans med SF-antologierna. Jag har beställt en kopia och kan knappt vänta ...