But he would not answer every question as well, would he?'

'Perhaps not.'

'Shall I ask him some more questions?'

By all means; he will understand everything you say to him. If you are equally clever, no doubt you will be able to understand his answers.'

And so, with games, and fun, and bantering, the evening passes by, and then comes the time when the merry little party must separate, and as I accompany each group to the garden gate, I receive a parting pat or kiss, and an assurance from the children that they never did have such a pleasant party before, and that the next time they come, they do hope I shall be there to play with them again. And so with love and kindness I speed the parting guests, and then, nothing loath, turn into my kennel, rest my head upon my paws, and in thinking over the events of the evening, am soon fast asleep, dreaming of our pleasant plays and of my still pleasanter playfellows.

BELIEVE I thought my dear mistress as nearly perfection as a human being could be. Still the very best of us are liable to err, and there was one point on which, I think, my mistress made a mistake.

In her anxiety to protect me from undesirable acquaintance, she would never give me permission to go out on my own account. Now such restraint as this is not good for human nature. I am sure it is not. I have seen too much of the misery that arises from drawing the rein too tight in early youth, not to have been convinced that those are the happiest families in which the young people are allowed a little wholesome liberty-not license, of course, but liberty, and they are two very different things, though, unfortunately, it is not every one that knows this. Now, what is bad for

men is equally bad for dogs. It was quite impossible for me always to remain within bounds. There was a craving within me for companionship with my kind; and had I been allowed a moderate amount of society, I have no doubt that I should have been content with. such friends as my mistress would have chosen for me. But compelled to seek acquaintance on the sly, it must be confessed that my associates were not always of the most respectable.

There was one family with whom I was especially intimate, who, I regret to say, supported themselves almost entirely, as they said, by their wits, which, translated into plain English, meant, I fear, by stealing. Now I know perfectly well that I ought to have had no sort of intercourse with such people. But there was something so fascinating to me in the excitement of their mode of life, the hairbreadth escapes that they incurred as they chased their prey through some of the most closely preserved estates in the neighbourhood, that, I am free to confess, there was nothing that I enjoyed more than to escape from my own home and have a day's hunting with my friends.

But whilst the taste of rabbit was sweet in my mouth, I must say the after flavour was

often bitter enough, for, whenever my conduct was discovered, I was sure to be severely punished. Now it was not the actual punishment which was so hard to bear, but I could not endure the sense of moral degradation ; and if on returning from one of my marauding excursions, I did but hear the sound of my mistress's voice, I would slink away to my kennel, only too anxious to get away and hide myself from observation. And yet, though I knew I was wrong, and despised myself for my weakness, yet I never heard any of the Mongrel family calling to me, and asking me to come out with them for a day's pleasuring, but I was all in a state of excitement and agitation till I could get away.

I well remember one occasion when I thus yielded to temptation.

There was a large party staying in the house. I knew I should be wanted, and should be missed if I was away; but it was a splendid hunting morning, and the Mongrels had been unusually pressing. I had resisted their invitations for some time, but at length the pleading of the youngest Miss Mongrel was too much for me. She was a great favourite of mine, and when she assured me the day's hunting would lose all its attraction if I was not

present, it was too much for my powers of resistance, and, though somewhat unwillingly, I yielded and went with them.

I tried to reconcile my conduct to my conscience by promising myself I would only go for a very short time, and be home again long before I was missed or wanted. But amusing occupation and pleasant society make time pass very quickly, and the hours went by more speedily than I calculated.

Our hunt was unusually successful, and when at length roused to a sense of the length of time I had been absent, I told my friends I must bid them goodbye and return, a general chorus of lamentation arose.

'What! would I not stay to dinner?'

'Oh! you must stay and dine—you must indeed,' exclaimed first one and then the other. 'And look,' said Miss Mongrel, 'I have put aside all the tit-bits for you: surely you cannot resist them?'

'I could resist them, but I cannot resist your entreaties.'

And so against my better judgment I sat myself down to dinner.

We were just in the midst of our feast, when the sharp ring of a gun was heard in our immediate vicinity. In a moment we were all on