ady. A second growl rewarded
this attention. And Lady sought to avoid further contact with the
shaggy giant, by scrambling at top speed to the edge of the veranda.

She miscalculated the distance or else her nearsighted baby eyes failed
to take account of the four-foot drop to the gravel drive below. Too
late, she tried to check her awkward rush. And, for a moment, her fat
little body swayed perilously on the brink.

The Mistress and the Master were too far away to catch her in time to
prevent a fall which might well have entailed a broken rib or a
wrenched shoulder. But Lad was nearer. Also, he moved faster.

With the speed of lightning, he made a dive for the tumbling Lady. As
tenderly as if he were picking up a ball of needles, he caught her by
the scruff of the neck, lifting her in the air and depositing her at
the Mistress's feet.

The puppy repaid this life-saving exploit by growling still more
wrathfully and by snapping in helpless menace at the big dog's nose.
But Lad was in no wise offended. Deaf to the praise of the Mistress,--a
praise which ordinarily threw him into transports of embarrassed
delight,--he stood over the rescued pup; every inch of his magnificent
body vibrant with homage and protectiveness.

From that hour, Lad was the adoring slave of Lady.

He watched over her, in her increasingly active rambles about the
Place. Always, on the advent of doubtful strangers, he interposed his
own furry bulk between her and possible kidnaping. He stood beside her
as she lapped her bread-and-milk or as she chewed laboriously at her
fragment of dog-biscuit.

At such times, he proved himself the mortal foe of Peter Grimm, the
Mistress's temperamental gray kitten, with whom he was ordinarily on
very comfortable terms. Peter Grimm was the one creature on the Place
whom Lady feared. On the day after her arrival, she essayed to worry
the haughty catkin. And, a second later, the puppy was nursing a brace
of deep red scratches at the tip of her inquiring black nostrils.

Thereafter, she gave Peter Grimm a wide berth. And the cat was wont to
take advantage of this dread by making forays on Lady's supper dish.
But, ever, Lad would swoop down upon the marauder, as Lady cowered
whimperingly back on her haunches; and would harry the indignant cat up
the nearest tree; herding her there until Lady had licked the dish
clean.

Lad went further, in his fealty to the puppy. Sacrificing his own regal
dignity, he would rom