he colonel of my misfortune, and leave
him to infer that it had happened after our interview; but the poodle
was fast becoming cold and stiff, and they would most probably suspect
the real time of the occurrence.

And then Lilian would hear that I had told a string of falsehoods to her
uncle over the dead body of their idolised Bingo--an act, no doubt, of
abominable desecration, of unspeakable profanity, in her eyes.

If it would have been difficult before to prevail on her to accept a
blood-stained hand, it would be impossible after that. No, I had burned
my ships, I was cut off for ever from the straightforward course; that
one moment of indecision had decided my conduct in spite of me; I must
go on with it now, and keep up the deception at all hazards.

It was bitter. I had always tried to preserve as many of the moral
principles which had been instilled into me as can be conveniently
retained in this grasping world, and it had been my pride that, roughly
speaking, I had never been guilty of an unmistakable falsehood.

But henceforth, if I meant to win Lilian, that boast must be
relinquished for ever. I should have to lie now with all my might,
without limit or scruple, to dissemble incessantly, and "wear a mask,"
as the poet Bunn beautifully expressed it long ago, "over my hollow
heart." I felt all this keenly; I did not think it was right, but what
was I to do?

After thinking all this out very carefully, I decided that my only
course was to bury the poor animal where he fell, and say nothing about
it. With some vague idea of precaution, I first took off the silver
collar he wore, and then hastily interred him with a garden-trowel, and
succeeded in removing all traces of the disaster.

I fancy I felt a certain relief in the knowledge that there would now
be no necessity to tell my pitiful story and risk the loss of my
neighbours' esteem.

By-and-by, I thought, I would plant a rose-tree over his remains, and
some day, as Lilian and I, in the noontide of our domestic bliss, stood
before it admiring its creamy luxuriance, I might (perhaps) find courage
to confess that the tree owed some of that luxuriance to the long-lost
Bingo.

There was a touch of poetry in this idea that lightened my gloom for the
moment.

I need scarcely say that I did not go round to Shuturgarden that
evening. I was not hardened enough for that yet; my manner might betray
me, and so I very prudently stayed at home.

But that night m