om for your gun and suit case."

"And for me?" he asked, smiling.

"I think so. Be careful of that Sagamore pup, Flynn. Hold him between
your knees. Are you ready, Mr. Siward?"

So he climbed in; the groom hoisted the dog to the rumble and sprang up
behind; the horse danced and misbehaved, making a spectacle of himself
and an agreeable picture of his driver; then the pretty little phaeton
swung northward out of the gravel drive and went whirling along a road
all misty with puffs of yellow dust which the afternoon sun turned to
floating golden powder.

"Did you send my telegram, Flynn?" she asked without turning her head.

"I did, Miss."

It being the most important telegram she had ever sent in all her life,
Miss Landis became preoccupied,--quite oblivious to extraneous details,
including Siward, until the horse began acting badly again. Her slightly
disdainful and perfect control of the reins interested the young man. He
might have said something civil and conventional about that, but did not
make the effort to invade a reserve which appeared to embarrass nobody.

A stacatto note from the dog, prolonged infinitely in hysterical
crescendo, demanded comment from somebody.

"What is the matter with him, Flynn?" she asked.

Siward said: "You should let him run, Miss Landis."

She nodded, smiling, inattentive, absorbed in her own affairs, still
theorising concerning her telegram. She drove on for a while, and might
have forgotten the dog entirely had he not once more lifted his voice in
melancholy.

"You say he ought to run for a mile or two? Do you think he'll bolt, Mr.
Siward?"

"Is he a new dog?"

"Yes, fresh from the kennels; supposed to be house-and wagon-broken,
steady to shot and wing--" She shrugged her pretty shoulders. "You see
how he's acting already!"

"Do you mind if I try him?" suggested Siward.

"You mean that you are going to let him run?"

"I think so."

"And if he bolts?"

"I'll take my chances."

"Yes, but please consider my chances, Mr. Siward. The dog doesn't belong
to me."

"But he ought to run--"

"But suppose he runs away? He's a horridly expensive creature--if you
care to take the risk."

"I'll take the risk," said Siward, smiling as she drew rein. "Now Flynn,
give me the leash. Quiet! Quiet, puppy! Everything is coming your way;
that's the beauty of patience; great thing, patience!" He took the
leader; the dog sprang from the rumble. "Now, my friend, look at me! No,
d