and she straightened up.

"Oh, grandpa, look!" she said softly, and then jumped off the seat to see
better. All the little company gazed with interest, for, accompanying the
man, was the most superb specimen of a collie dog that they had ever seen.
"It's a golden dog, grandpa," added Jewel.

The collie had evidently just been washed and brushed. His coat was,
indeed, of a gleaming yellow. His paws were white, the tip of his tail was
white, and his breast was snowy as the thick, soft foam of the breakers. A
narrow strip of white descended between his eyes,--golden, intelligent
eyes, with generations of trustworthiness in them. A silver collar nestled
in the long hair about his neck, and altogether he looked like a prince
among dogs.

Jewel clasped her hands beneath her chin and gazed at him with all her
eyes. He was too splendid to be flown at in her usual manner with animals.

"What a beauty!" ejaculated Harry.

"It _is_ a golden dog," said Jewel's mother, looking almost as enthusiastic
as the child.

"What have you there?" asked Mr. Evringham of the man. "Something pretty
fine, it appears to me."

"Yes, sir, there's none finer," replied the man, glancing at the animal. "I
called to see you on that little matter I wrote you of."

"Yes, yes; well, that will wait. We're interested in that fine collie of
yours. We know something about golden dogs here, eh, Jewel?"

"But this dog couldn't dance, grandpa," said the child soberly, drawing
nearer to the creature.

"I should think not," remarked the man, smiling. "What would he be doing
dancing? I've seen lions jump the rope in shows; but it never looked
fitting, to me."

"No," said Jewel, "this dog ought not to dance;" and as the collie's golden
eyes met hers, she drew nearer still in fascination, and he touched her
outstretched hand curiously, with his cold nose.

"Oh, well, but we like accomplished dogs," said Mr. Evringham coldly.

"Who says this dog ain't accomplished?" returned the man, in an injured
tone. "Just stand back there a bit, young lady."

Jewel retreated and her grandfather put his hand over her shoulder. The man
spoke to the dog, and at once the handsome creature sat up, tall and
dignified, on his hind legs.

The man only kept him there a few seconds; and then he put him through a
variety of other performances. The golden dog shook hands when he was told,
rolled over, jumped over a stick, and at last sat up again, and when the
man took a bit