eemed to regard
him as their natural enemy! And that smell! I'm sure Ethne detected it
too, for she kept glancing about her in a startled, mystified way."

"And Sir Alister?" queried the General. "Do you mean to say he did not
notice anything amiss?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "He didn't appear to. I called attention myself
to the singular attitude of the hounds, and he said quite casually:
'Dogs never do take to me much.'"

Uncle Bob gave a short laugh. "Our friend is evidently not sensitive."
He paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then added: "It certainly is
rather curious, but, for Heaven's sake, boy, don't get imagining all
sorts of things!"

This nettled me and made me wish I had held my tongue. I was quite aware
that my story might have sounded somewhat fantastic from a stranger;
still, he ought to have known me better than to accuse me of
imagination. I abruptly changed the subject, and shortly after left the
room.

But I could not banish from my mind the incident of the morning. I could
not forget the appealing faces of those dogs. Ethne and Sir Alister had
left me there and returned to the house together, and, after their
departure, those poor, dumb beasts had gathered round me in a way that
was absolutely pathetic, licking and fondling my hands, as though
apologising for their previous misconduct. Still, I understood. That
bristling up their spines was precisely the same sensation I had
experienced when I first met Sir Alister Moeran.

As I was slowly mounting the stairs on my way up to dress, I heard
someone running up after me, and turned round to find Ethne beside me.

"Maurice," she said, rather breathlessly, "tell me, you did not punish
Fritz and Bess for not coming at once when you called them this
morning?"

"No," I answered.

She gave a nervous little laugh. "I'm glad of that. I thought
perhaps----" She stopped short, then rushed on, "You know how queer
mother is about cats--can't bear one in the room, and how they always
fly out directly she comes in? Well, dogs are the same with Alister.
He--he told me so himself. It seems funny to me, and I suppose to you,
because we're so fond of all kinds of animals; but I don't really see
why it should be any more extraordinary to have an antipathy for dogs
than for cats, and no one thinks anything of it if you dislike cats."

"That is so," I said thoughtfully.

"Anyway," she went on, "it is not our own fault if a certain animal does
not insti