hs or so,
Lady was stricken with distemper and was taken to a veterinary
hospital. There, for something more than three months she was nursed
through the scourging malady and through the chorea and pneumonia which
are so prone to follow in distemper's dread wake.

Science amuses itself by cutting up and otherwise torturing helpless
dogs in the unholy name of vivisection. But Science has not yet
troubled itself to discover one certain cure or preventive for the
distemper which yearly robs thousands of homes of their loved canine
pets and guards. Apparently it is pleasanter for scientists to watch a
screaming dog writhe under the knife in a research laboratory than to
trouble about finding a way to abolish distemper; and thus of ridding
the dog world of its worst scourge.

This is a digression from our story. But perhaps it is worth your
remembering,--you who care about dogs.

Altogether, Lady was away from the Place for fifteen weeks.

And, in her absence, the unhappy Lad took upon himself the task of
turning little Wolf from a pest into something approaching a decent
canine citizen. It was no sinecure, this educating of the hot-tempered
and undisciplined youngster. But Lad brought to it an elephantine
patience and an uncannily wise brain. And, by the time Lady was brought
back, cured, the puppy had begun to show the results of his sire's
stern teachings.

Indeed, Lady's absence was the best thing that could have befallen
Wolf. For, otherwise, his training must needs have devolved upon the
Mistress and the Master. And no mere humans could have done the job
with such grimly gentle thoroughness as did Lad. Few dogs, except
pointers or setters or collies, will deign to educate their puppies to
the duties of life and of field and of house. But Lad had done the work
in a way that left little to be asked for.

When Lady came home, her flighty brain seemed to have forgotten the
fact that young Wolf was her once-adored son. Of her earlier capricious
devotion to him, no trace remained. She sniffed in stand-offish inquiry
at him; as at a stranger. And the scatterbrain pup remembered her no
better than she remembered him. There is a wide gulf in intelligence
between a three-month puppy and one six months old.

Yet,--perhaps because they were both excitable and mischievous and
loved romping,--and because each was a novelty to the other--mother and
son quickly formed a new friendship. From the more sedate and
discipline-enfo