out caused me to turn again and look back. I beheld an infant rolling
down the drawing-room stairs like a small Alpine boulder. A little girl
was vainly attempting to arrest the infant, and three boys, of various
sizes, came bounding towards the young lady with shouts of welcome. In
the midst of the din my doggie uttered a cry of pain, the Babel of
children's voices was hushed by a bass growl, and the street door closed
with a bang!

"Yell, that _is_ a rum go!" exclaimed my little companion, as we walked
slowly away. "Don't it seem to you, now, as if it wor all a dream?"

"It does, indeed," I replied, half inclined to laugh, yet with a feeling
of sadness at my heart, for I knew that my doggie and I were parted for
ever! Even if the young lady should insist on my keeping the dog, I
felt that I could not agree to do so. No! I had committed myself, and
the thing was done; for it was clear that, with the mutual affection
existing between the lady and the dog, they would not willingly consent
to be parted--it would be cruelty even to suggest a separation.

"Pshaw!" thought I, "why should the loss of a miserable dog--a mere mass
of shapeless hair--affect me so much? Pooh! I will brush the subject
away."

So I brushed it away, but back it came again in spite of all my
brushing, and insisted on remaining to trouble me.

Short though our friendship had been, it had, I found, become very warm
and strong. I recalled a good many pleasant evenings when, seated alone
in my room with a favourite author, I had read and tickled Dumps under
the chin and behind the ears to such an extent that I had thoroughly
gained his heart; and as "love begets love," I had been drawn insensibly
yet powerfully towards him. In short, Dumps and I understood each
other.

While I was meditating on these things my companion, who had walked
along in silence, suddenly said--

"You needn't take on so, sir, about Punch."

"How d'you know I'm taking on so?"

"'Cause you look so awful solemncholy. An' there's no occasion to do
so. You can get the critter back again."

"I fear not Slidder, for I have already given it to the young lady, and
you have seen how fond she is of it; and the dog evidently likes her
better than it likes me."

"Yell, I ain't surprised at _that_. It on'y proves it to be a dog of
good taste; but you can get it back for all that."

"How so?" I asked, much amused by the decision and self-sufficiency of
the boy's man