ose who listened to us playing behind these fog
curtains could not see Capi. It was a most annoying state of affairs for
our "takings." Little did we think how indebted we should be to the fog
a few minutes later. We were walking through one of the most popular
streets when suddenly I discovered that Capi was not with us. This was
extraordinary, for he always kept close at our heels. I waited for him
to catch up with us. I stood at the entrance of a dark alley and
whistled softly, for we could see but a short distance. I was beginning
to fear that he had been stolen from us when he came up on the run,
holding a pair of woolen stockings between his teeth. Placing his fore
paws against me he presented them to me with a bark. He seemed as proud
as when he had accomplished one of his most difficult tricks and wanted
my approval. It was all done in a few seconds. I stood dumbfounded. Then
Mattia seized the stockings with one hand and pulled me down the alley
with the other.

"Walk quick, but don't run," he whispered.

He told me a moment later that a man who had hurried past him on the
pavement was saying, "Where's that thief? I'll get him!" We went out by
the other end of the alley.

"If it had not been for the fog we should have been arrested as
thieves," said Mattia.

For a moment I stood almost choking. They had made a thief of my good
honest Capi!

"Hold him tight," I said, "and come back to the house."

We walked quickly.

The father and mother were seated at the table folding up material. I
threw the pair of stockings down. Allen and Ned laughed.

"Here's a pair of stockings," I said; "you've made a thief of my dog. I
thought you took him out to amuse people."

I was trembling so I could scarcely speak, and yet I never felt more
determined.

"And if it was not for amusement," demanded my father, "what would you
do, I'd like to know?"

"I'd tie a cord round Capi's neck, and although I love him dearly, I'd
drown him. I don't want Capi to become a thief any more than I want to
be one myself, and if I thought that I ever should become a thief, I'd
drown myself at once with my dog."

My father looked me full in the face. I thought he was going to strike
me. His eyes gleamed. I did not flinch.

"Oh, very well, then," said he, recovering himself; "so that it shall
not happen again, you may take Capi out with you in the future."

I showed my fist to the two boys. I could not speak to them, but they
saw by m