aight to me with
a yelp of joy. His huge tail wagged incessantly, he panted thirstily
with excitement, he frisked round and round my chair, he abased himself
and kissed my feet and hands, he rubbed his stately head fondly against
my knee. His frantic demonstrations of delight were watched by my wife
and Ferrari with utter astonishment. I observed their surprise, and
said lightly:

"I told you how it would be! It is nothing remarkable, I assure you.
All dogs treat me in the same way."

And I laid my hand on the animal's neck with a commanding pressure; he
lay down at once, only now and then raising his large wistful brown
eyes to my face as though he wondered what had changed it so greatly.
But no disguise could deceive his intelligence--the faithful creature
knew his master. Meantime I thought Nina looked pale; certainly the
little jeweled white hand nearest to me shook slightly.

"Are you afraid of this noble animal, madame?" I asked, watching her
closely. She laughed, a little forcedly.

"Oh, no! But Wyvis is usually so shy with strangers, and I never saw
him greet any one so rapturously except my late husband. It is really
very odd!"

Ferrari, by his looks, agreed with her, and appeared to be uneasily
considering the circumstance.

"Strange to say," he remarked, "Wyvis has for once forgotten me. He
never fails to give me a passing snarl."

Hearing his voice, the dog did indeed commence growling discontentedly;
but a touch from me silenced him. The animal's declared enmity toward
Ferrari surprised me--it was quite a new thing, as before my burial his
behavior to him had been perfectly friendly.

"I have had a great deal to do with dogs in my time," I said, speaking
in a deliberately composed voice. "I have found their instinct
marvelous; they generally seem to recognize at once the persons who are
fond of their society. This Wyvis of yours, contessa, has no doubt
discovered that I have had many friends among his brethren, so that
there is nothing strange in his making so much of me."

The air of studied indifference with which I spoke, and the fact of my
taking the exuberant delight of Wyvis as a matter of course, gradually
reassured the plainly disturbed feelings of my two betrayers, for after
a little pause the incident was passed over, and our conversation went
on with pleasant and satisfactory smoothness. Before my departure that
evening, however, I offered to chain up the dog--"as, if I do this," I
ad