e" he had called him, and it was the same "Laddie" that lived
with us so long.

"Margaret!" cried the Judge, as he pulled the dirty creature into the
kitchen. "A light! The thing is half-starved. Bring some food upstairs
to the library."

The hound was licking his hand and cowering as if accustomed to abuse,
and from that night it was nearly six months before the old fellow got
his flesh and healthy coat of hair and his spirit back again. That
night, having eaten, it looked about the room, found the Judge, went to
him, and, laying his head in his lap, looked up at him out of his two
sorrowful eyes. I knew then, by the smile of the Judge's mouth and the
way he put on his tortoise-shell glasses, that "Laddie" would never be
sent away. Just then, though, the master, after he had looked at the dog
a minute, sprang up suddenly and stood staring at me with his mouth
twitching.

"What is it, sir?" I asked.

"The dog!" he said.

"Yes, sir," I said. "The dog--"

"The gate swings shut with a spring!" he said. "Some human being must
have opened the gate."

It was true! We looked at each other, and then the Judge laughed.

"Oh, well," said he carelessly, "if they want the dog they must come
and claim him with proceedings at law. Make a bed for him in the back
hall."

On my part, however, I was not satisfied so easily and many more
peaceful moments I would have had if I had never pried further as I did.
After all, I only asked one question and that early the next morning. In
the house next to ours a brick ell was built way out to the alleyway
along half the yard. The kitchen windows looked out on the passage.
There was a maid in that house,--a second girl, as they call them in
this country,--and I knew she was a great person for staying up late,
telling her own fortune with cards or reading a dream-book. She was
hanging clothes in the early sun, with her red hair bobbing up and down
above the sheets and napkins, when I stood on a chair and looked over
the wall.

"Busy early?" I said. "But I saw your light late last night. Did you by
any chance see anybody come in through our gate?"

"Only you," the stupid thing said. "At first I thought it was some other
woman, because, begging your pardon, you looked thin. But it was after
nine and I knew you'd not be having callers that late."

My tongue grew so dry it was hard to move it from the roof of my mouth,
and before I could put in a word she threw a handful of clothespins