you please warm a little milk for him? And have you a box or a
basket down here that he can lie in?"
"I guess so," said the woman; "but he's awful dirty; you're not going to
let him sleep in the house, are you?"
"Only for to-night. He is very ill. A dreadful thing happened to him,
Mary." And Miss Laura went on to tell her how my ears had been cut off.
"Oh, that's the dog the boys were talking about," said the woman. "Poor
creature, he's welcome to all I can do for him." She opened a closet
door, and brought out a box, and folded a piece of blanket for me to lie
on. Then she heated some milk in a saucepan, and poured it in a saucer,
and watched me while Miss Laura went upstairs to get a little bottle of
something that would make me sleep. They poured a few drops of this
medicine into the milk and offered it to me.
I lapped a little, but I could not finish it, even though Miss Laura
coaxed me very gently to do so. She dipped her finger in the milk and
held it out to me, and though I did not want it, I could not be
ungrateful enough to refuse to lick her finger as often as she offered
it to me. After the milk was gone, Mary lifted up my box, and carried me
into the washroom that was off the kitchen.
I soon fell sound asleep, and could not rouse myself through the night,
even though I both smelled and heard some one coming near me several
times. The next morning I found out that it was Miss Laura. Whenever
there was a sick animal in the house, no matter if it was only the tame
rat, she would get up two or three times in the night, to see if there
was anything she could do to make it more comfortable.
* * * * *
CHAPTER V
MY NEW HOME AND A SELFISH LADY
I don't believe that a dog could have fallen into a happier home than I
did. In a week, thanks to good nursing, good food, and kind words, I was
almost well. Mr. Harry washed and dressed my sore ears and tail every
day till he went home, and one day, he and the boys gave me a bath out
in the stable. They carried out a tub of warm water and stood me in it.
I had never been washed before in my life, and it felt very queer. Miss
Laura stood by laughing and encouraging me not to mind the streams of
water trickling all over me. I couldn't help wondering what Jenkins
would have said if he could have seen me in that tub.
That reminds me to say, that two days after I arrived at the Morrises',
Jack, followed by all
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