pace till I arrived at my own kennel, when I
curled myself round in my straw, and brooded over my wrongs till I went
to sleep.

I kept rather out of sight during the rest of the day, for more reasons
than one. An inferior creature cannot at once rise superior to an
affront, and clear it off his mind like a man; we are slaves to our
impressions, and till they are forgotten we cannot help acting upon
them; and I am afraid I rather took pleasure in nursing my wrath. Then I
did not wish to see Craven; and perhaps I might feel a little ashamed of
myself, and not quite sure what my master and mistress might think of my
running away. But I happened to hear John chuckling over the affair, and
saying that my master had been very much amused with the story; so I
regained confidence enough next morning to present myself once more,
though in rather a shy way, to Lily at the foot of the stairs.

"Oh, come in to breakfast, you capital dog," exclaimed she; so I
followed her, delighted to find that I was in the same favour as ever.
But, alas! how little did I foresee the misfortune that was coming upon
me! I had better have stayed in my kennel and fancied the whole world
affronted with me for a few days longer.

Craven and I met on the rug, _my_ rug, as I considered it; for it was
one of my principal pleasures to sit on that rug with my feet on the
fender, warming my nose. I sometimes toasted myself all over, till my
coat was so hot that Lily squeaked when she touched me. She would have
barked, I suppose, if she had known how. Now Craven stood in my place,
with one of his hind paws on my fender. He looked scornfully at me, and
I returned his glance with one of equal contempt, though I longed to
snap at his shining heel, and teach him sense and manners.

But Lily, who never was angry with any body, did not perceive how much
we disliked each other, and exclaimed in her innocent way, "Craven, here
is Captain come to make friends with you, and to beg pardon for
deserting you yesterday. Shake a paw, Captain."

Shaking a paw with Craven was a thing I would not do; and my master, a
good sportsman himself, entered into my feelings.

"The dog was thoroughly provoked by your bad shooting, Craven," said he,
"and you will never make either him or me believe it was his fault. But
try again. There is no necessity for you to be a sportsman; but if you
choose to do a thing at all, you had better do it properly; and you may
learn as well as any b