self very frequently to be wrong. But then Murphy, when he talked like
this in the after days, showing how easily We might make mistakes, and
explaining so much that was not wholly realised before, caused sundry
folk to wonder whether in some previous life he had in his spare time
studied Bentham. For dogs or men to make mistakes is not necessarily for
them to do wrong. "To trace errors to their source is often to refute
them."

He often quoted that; but on the only occasion on which he was asked about
his previous studies he remained silent. He and his Master were sitting on
the hillside, far away from the hum of men--as, in fact, they mostly were.
His eyes were ranging over the valley to the skyline. "That's the way to
look, my dear master," he appeared to be saying--"that's the way to look.
Never run heel way. For you and me there is a future. Look ahead, and cast
forward; never look behind!"

His remarks often, in this way, touched lightly on great questions.

II

To look ahead in the hey-day of youth is to look forward to unclouded
happiness. And, no doubt, to Murphy and those of his own age, the fact
that the summer waned and that autumn followed, when leaves fell
mysteriously from the trees and there were sporting scents in the air,
made little difference to their outlook. Happiness had no relation to the
seasons: they were all good in their turn. Jolly times ranged from spring
to winter. And, perhaps, winter after all was best.

It was on a winter day, in fact, that Murphy first made a mark in the
mind of his Over-Lord, and it came about like this.

The day before had been typical of late January. The sun had not shone
since daybreak. The sky to the north was lead colour, and the wind was
blowing through snow. If it froze on the north side of the hedgerows, it
thawed on the south--the coldest condition of all.

There were covered places for the dogs of the mill, with plenty of straw,
and when one or two who had been out for a walk came in and said there
would be snow before another morning dawned, those who heard the remark
curled themselves tighter or drew closer to their more intimate friends.
And as they slept and woke, and slept again, they saw the lights go out
one by one, save those in the mill itself, for barges had come with loads
of grain, and the mill was working all night. They could hear the steady
"throb," "throb" of the great mill-wheel and the plash