-house where hens
were sitting on their nests. By and by he trotted around the house and
came upon the lassie, busily clearing winter rubbish from her posie bed.
A dog changes very little in appearance, but in eight and a half years a
child grows into a different person altogether. Bobby barked politely to
let this strange lassie know that he was there. In the next instant he
knew her, for she whirled about and, in a kind of glad wonder, cried
out:

"Oh, Bobby! hae ye come hame? Mither, here's ma ain wee Bobby!" For she
had never given up the hope that this adored little pet would some day
return to her.

"Havers, lassie, ye're aye seein' Bobby i' ilka Hielan' terrier, an'
there's mony o' them aboot."

The gude-wife looked from an attic window in the steep gable, and then
hurried down. "Weel, noo, ye're richt, Elsie. He wad be comin' wi' the
regiment frae the Castle. Bittie doggies an' laddies are fair daft aboot
the soldiers. Ay, he's bonny, an' weel cared for, by the ordinar'. I
wonder gin he's still leevin' i' the grand auld kirkyaird."

Wary of her remembered endearments, Bobby kept a safe distance from the
maidie, but he sat up and lolled his tongue, quite willing to pay her a
friendly visit. From that she came to a wrong conclusion: "Sin' he cam'
o' his ain accord he's like to bide." Her eyes were blue stars.

"I wadna be coontin' on that, lassie. An' I wadna speck a door on 'im
anither time. Grin he wanted to get oot he'd dig aneath a floor o'
stane. Leuk at that, noo! The bonny wee is greetin' for Auld Jock."

It was true, for, on entering the kitchen, Bobby went straight to the
bench in the corner and lay down flat under it. Elsie sat beside him,
just as she had done of old. Her eyes overflowed so in sympathy that the
mother was quite distracted. This would not do at all.

"Lassie, are ye no' rememberin' Bobby was fair fond o' moor-hens' eggs
fried wi' bits o' cheese? He wullna be gettin' thae things; an' it wad
be maist michty, noo, gin ye couldna win the bittie dog awa' frae the
reekie auld toon. Gang oot wi' 'im an' rin on the brae an' bid 'im find
the nests aneath the whins."

In a moment they were out on the heather, and it seemed, indeed, as
if Bobby might be won. He frisked and barked at Elsie's heels, chased
rabbits and flushed the grouse; and when he ran into a peat-darkened
tarp, rimmed with moss, he had such a cold and splashy swim as quite to
give a little dog a distaste for warm, soapy wat