hundred and fifty!" (which Harry did not believe so readily); and, after
Harry had admired and studied the dogs for the space of half an hour,
he dropped the price, in a kind of spasm of generosity, to two hundred
dollars. Harry was tempted to close the bargain on the spot, hot-headed,
but he decided to wait and prepare his mother for such a large addition
to the stable.

The more he dwelt on the subject the more he longed to buy the dogs.

In fact, a time comes to every healthy man when he wants a dog, just
as a time comes when he wants a wife; and Harry's dog was dead.
By consequence, Harry was in the state of sensitive affection and
desolation to which a promising new object makes the most moving appeal.
The departed dog (Bruce by name) had been a Saint Bernard; and Deacon
Hurst found one of the puppies to have so much the expression of
countenance of the late Bruce that he named him Bruce on the spot--a
little before Harry joined the group. Harry did not at first recognize
this resemblance, but he grew to see it; and, combined with the dog's
affectionate disposition, it softened his heart. By the time he told his
mother he was come to quoting Hurst's adjectives as his own.

"Beauties, mother," says Harry, with sparkling eyes; "the markings are
perfect--couldn't be better; and their heads are shaped just right!
You can't get such watch-dogs in the world! And, for all their enormous
strength, gentle as a lamb to women and children! And, mother, one of
them looks like Bruce!"

"I suppose they would want to be housedogs," says Mrs. Lossing, a little
dubiously, but looking fondly at Harry's handsome face; "you know,
somehow, all our dogs, no matter how properly they start in a kennel,
end by being so hurt if we keep them there that they come into the
house. And they are so large, it is like having a pet lion about."

"These dogs, mother, shall never put a paw in the house."

"Well, I hope just as I get fond of them they will not have the
distemper and die!" said Mrs. Lossing; which speech Harry rightly took
for the white flag of surrender.

That evening he went to find Hurst and clinch the bargain. As it
happened, Hurst was away, driving an especially important political
personage to an especially important political council. The day
following was a Sunday; but, by this time, Harry was so bent upon
obtaining the dogs that he had it in mind to go to Hurst's house for
them in the afternoon. When Harry wants anythin