't think there is anything in the suggestion I made to account
for his extreme nervousness, do you?"

"Well--I know now that there is. I only got to the bottom of it, though,
this morning. These things aren't arrived at in a minute, you know. One
working-man very rarely splits upon another."

Then followed the whole story. "It was cruel--cruel," he jerked out at
the end, finishing with, "I may as well tell you, I never liked the man.
Latterly his work was anyhow--went from bad to worse, and I discharged
him."

There was silence. Two great big men were sitting looking at the dog
lying between them. The dog's eyebrows moved continually: his brilliant
eyes travelled from one to the other; and presently he heaved a deep
sigh, as much as to say, "It's all quite true--quite true."

If there had been hesitation about keeping Murphy before, there was an end
to it now. Here was a dog--a young life--that had once, and not so long
ago, been the delight of the kennel, the very embodiment of light-hearted
fun and happiness; the most promising of all the younger lot, and one that
had never been guilty of wrong. Send him back! Give him up! What might his
fate be if he went elsewhere? Death? Look at him. Look at his large
brilliant eyes. They betoken nervousness, of course--inherent nervousness,
probably. A cruel injustice had been done by this dumb thing, and by one
of Us. Give him up! Clearly everything most prized was at stake, and
claimed the exact opposite.

Why should a different justice be the lot of a dog to that meted out to a
man? Is the superiority all one way? Each man knows in his heart that it
is not; that the dog is often the better of the two.

How the thoughts raced through the brain!

"Murphy?" It was his new master that called him now.

Perhaps the presence of the Over-Lord had given the young dog confidence:
_he_, at least, had been linked with happy times. Murphy got up
hesitatingly and came to his new master's chair, with his ears drooping.
He even suffered himself to be taken into this new master's lap, though
not without great nervousness.

And after that the Over-Lord rose and said good-bye.

"No, Murphy, we won't part," were the last words he heard as he left the
door; and this was the last time the generous Over-Lord was destined ever
to set eyes on Murphy.

VI

Others laughed when they heard the final verdict, and called the
undertaking hopeless and se