th them? Master and I are ever so much better company for you;
and we love to have you with us. Stay right here, and forget them."

Lad, perhaps, understood the actual meaning of one word in ten of the
advice. But he understood and loved the Mistress's sweet voice and the
caress of her cool little hand; and the sympathy in her tone. It all
meant much to Laddie. Very much indeed. And he laid his mighty head
against her knee; happy in the comfort of touch and voice.

Nevertheless, that wistful glint was ever lurking in his deep-set eyes,
nowadays. And his gayly trumpeting bark rang out less often and less
jubilantly than of old. He took to moping. And he spent more time than
before in his beloved "cave," under the music-room piano.

Moping and solitude are no more beneficial to dogs than to humans. The
Master racked his brain for some way of bringing the splendid collie
back to his olden spirits.

Luck, or fate, took the matter out of his hands.

The Mistress and the Master were invited to spend a week with some
friends whose house stood in an ultra-restricted residential park, high
up in the Catskills. By leaving the Place at sunrise, they could reach
the Park, by motor, in time for afternoon tea.

At dawn, the car was brought to the door. Its tonneau was piled with
luggage; and all was ready for a start as soon as the unappetizingly
early breakfast could be swallowed.

Wolf and Lady, after following the car from the garage to the door,
wearied of the uninspiring wait; and set forth at a hand-gallop for the
woods. There, at dawning, the dew would lie heavy. And wet ground ever
holds scent better than does dry. It would be easy to pick up and
follow rabbit trails, through the damp.

Lad made as though to follow them. He ran out of the house and half-way
up the drive in pursuit of their flashing gold-and-white flight.
Neither turned a head at sound of his following steps. Neither
slackened pace to include him in the hunt.

Always abnormally sensitive, the big collie noted this aloofness. And
he came to an irresolute halt. For a moment, he stared after the two
vanishing runaways; his plumed tail swaying ever so little, in
groundless expectation of an invitingly glance or yelp from Lady. Then,
tail and crest adroop, he turned slowly back toward the house.

From puppyhood, an odd trait of Lad's had caused amusement at the
Place. Whenever he was unhappy or considered himself ill-treated, it
was his way to hunt for s