he dog
approached timidly. The man patted her protruding ribs, moved by the
beast's misery, and he cried: "Come! come here!" Immediately she began to
wag her tail, and, feeling herself taken in, adopted, she began to run
along ahead of her new master.

He made her a bed on the straw in the stable, then he ran to the kitchen
for some bread. When she had eaten all she could she curled up and went
to sleep.

When his employers heard of this the next day they allowed the coachman
to keep the animal. It was a good beast, caressing and faithful,
intelligent and gentle.

Nevertheless Francois adored Cocotte, and he kept repeating: "That beast
is human. She only lacks speech."

He had a magnificent red leather collar made for her which bore these
words engraved on a copper plate: "Mademoiselle Cocotte, belonging to the
coachman Francois."

She was remarkably prolific and four times a year would give birth to a
batch of little animals belonging to every variety of the canine race.
Francois would pick out one which he would leave her and then he would
unmercifully throw the others into the river. But soon the cook joined
her complaints to those of the gardener. She would find dogs under the
stove, in the ice box, in the coal bin, and they would steal everything
they came across.

Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to
get rid of Cocotte. In despair the man tried to give her away. Nobody
wanted her. Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster,
who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.

Cocotte returned the same day. Some decision had to be taken. Five francs
was given to a train conductor to take her to Havre. He was to drop her
there.

Three days later she returned to the stable, thin, footsore and tired
out.

The master took pity on her and let her stay. But other dogs were
attracted as before, and one evening, when a big dinner party was on, a
stuffed turkey was carried away by one of them right under the cook's
nose, and she did not dare to stop him.

This time the master completely lost his temper and said angrily to
Francois: "If you don't throw this beast into the water
before--to-morrow morning, I'll put you out, do you hear?"

The man was dumbfounded, and he returned to his room to pack his trunk,
preferring to leave the place. Then he bethought himself that he could
find no other situation as long as he dragged this animal about