or old,
to detect it if there were. So that, upon due consideration, my father
(determined, of course, to make a proper return for the present) agreed
to consider Chloe as his own property; and Tom, having seen her very
comfortably installed in clean dry straw in a warm stable, and fed in a
manner which gave a satisfactory specimen of her future diet, and being
himself regaled with plum-cake and cherry brandy, (a liquor of which
he had, he said, heard much talk, and which proved, as my father
had augured, exceedingly cheering and consolatory in the moment of
affliction,) departed in much better spirits than could have been
expected after such a separation. I myself, duly appreciating the
merits of Chloe, was a little jealous for my own noble Dash, whom she
resembled, with a slight inferiority of size and colouring; much such
a resemblance as Viola, I suppose, bore to Sebastian. But upon being
reminded of the affinity between the two dogs, (for Dash came originally
from the Ashley End kennel, and was, as nearly as we could make out,
grand-uncle to Chloe,) and of our singular good fortune, in having two
such beautiful spaniels under one roof, my objections were entirely
removed. Under the same roof they did not seem likely to continue. When
sent after to the stable the next morning, Chloe was missing. Everybody
declared that the door had not been opened, and Dick, who had her
in charge, vowed that the key had never been out of his pocket But
accusations and affirmations were equally useless--the bird was flown.
Of course she had returned to Ashley End. And upon being sent for to her
old abode, Tom was found preparing to bring her to Aberleigh; and Mrs.
King suggested, that, having been accustomed to live with them, she
would, perhaps, sooner get accustomed to the kitchen fireside than to a
stable, however comfortable.

The suggestion was followed. A mat was placed by the side of the kitchen
fire; much pains were taken to coax the shy stranger; (Dick, who loved
and understood dogs, devoting himself to the task of making himself
agreeable to this gentle and beautiful creature;) and she seemed so far
reconciled as to suffer his caresses, to lap a little milk when sure
that nobody saw her, and even to bridle with instinctive coquetry, when
Dash, head and tail up, advanced with a sort of stately and conscious
courtesy to examine into the claims of the newcomer. For the first
evening all seemed promising; but on the next mornin