likes and dislikes, they got something not entirely to their
taste, was also very typical. Punch would retire quietly into
obscurity, and having disposed of the objectionable morsel
somehow--either by a strenuous swallow or in some corner--would
quietly reappear, lay his head on Graeme's knee again, and work it up
to his lap with a series of propitiatory little jerks that never
failed of their object. Scamp, on the other hand, would hold it in his
mouth for a moment till he had savoured it, then place it meekly on
the floor, bow his head to the ground, and grovel flat with
deprecatory white-eyed up-glances, and as clearly as dog could say,
would murmur,--"Oh, Man, Lord of all that go on four legs, forgive thy
humble little servant in that he is unable with enjoyment to eat that
thou hast of thy bounty tendered him! The fault is wholly his. Yet, of
thy great clemency, punish him not beyond his capacity, for his very
small body is merely a bundle of nerves, and they lie so very close to
the skin that even a harsh word from thee will set them quivering for
an hour." But, at a comforting word, he was up in a flash dancing and
sparring away as gaily as ever.

Then, when Mrs. Carre brought in the next course, they both retired
discreetly below the tent of the tablecloth. But she, knowing them of
old perhaps, found them out at once and cried, "Ah you! I see you
there! You are just troublesome beasts!" But, seeing that her guest
was in the conspiracy, she permitted them for that once; and in time,
seeing that he really desired their company, she allowed them to
remain as a matter of course and without any preliminary harrying.

VI

One other acquaintance he made during these dark days,--perhaps one
ought to say an acquaintance and a half, if indeed the half in this
case was not greater than the whole, a matter which Graeme never fully
decided in his own mind,--a small person of grim and gloomy
tendencies, whose sombre humours chimed at times with his own,--and
that small person's familiar.

His name was Johnnie Vautrin, and, as far as Graeme could make out, he
was about eight years old in actual years, but aged beyond belief in
black arts which made him a terror to his kind. And his familiar, in
the person of an enormous black cat, which came and went, was named
Marielihou.

Johnnie, and presumably Marielihou, lived with an ancient dame who was
held by some to be their great-grandmother, and by some to be
Marielihou h