tail--wagged as I spoke,
and he attempted to lick my fingers, but I prevented this by patting his
head. I have an unconquerable aversion to licking. Perhaps having
received more than an average allowance, in another sense, at school,
may account for my dislike to it--even from a dog!

"Now, Dumps," I continued, "you and I are to be good friends. I've
bought you--for a pretty large sum too, let me tell you--from a man who,
I am quite sure, treated you ill, and I intend to show you what good
treatment is; but there are two things I mean to insist on, and it is
well that we should understand each other at the outset of our united
career. You must never bark at my friends--not even at my enemies--when
they come to see me, and you must not beg at meals. D'you understand?"

The way in which that shaggy creature cocked its ears and turned its
head from side to side slowly, and gazed with its lustrous eyes while I
was speaking, went far to convince me it really did understand what I
said. Of course it only wagged its rear tuft of hair in reply, and
whimpered slightly.

Refer to its rear tuft advisedly, because, at a short distance, my
doggie, when in repose, resembled an elongated and shapeless mass; but,
when roused by a call or otherwise, three tufts of hair instantly sprang
up--two at one end, and one at the other end--indicating his ears and
tail. It was only by these signs that I could ascertain at any time his
exact position.

I was about to continue my remarks to Dumps when the door opened and my
landlady appeared bearing the dinner tray.

"Oh! I beg parding, sir," she said, drawing back, "I didn't 'ear your
voice, sir, till the door was open, an' I thought you was alone, but I
can come back a--"

"Come in, Mrs Miff. There is nobody here but my little dog--one that I
have just bought, a rather shaggy terrier--what do you think of him?"

"Do 'e bite, sir?" inquired Mrs Miff, in some anxiety, as she passed
round the table at a respectful distance from Dumps.

"I think not. He seems an amiable creature," said I, patting his head.
"Do you ever bite, Dumps?"

"Well, sir, I never feel quite easy," rejoined Mrs Miff in a doubtful
tone, as she laid my cloth, with, as it were, one eye ever on the alert:
"you never knows w'en these 'airy creatures is goin' to fly at you. If
you could see their heyes you might 'ave a guess what they was a
thinkin' of; an' then it is so orkard not knowin' w'ich end of the 'airy