r," answered the youth. "Dog natur's like human natur'!"

Saying this he seized Crusoe by the neck, stuffed him comfortably into
the bosom of his hunting shirt, and walked rapidly away with the prize
rifle on his shoulder.

Fan had not bargained for this. She stood irresolute, gazing now to the
right and now to the left, as the major retired in one direction and
Dick with Crusoe in another. Suddenly Crusoe, who, although comfortable
in body, was ill at ease in spirit, gave utterance to a melancholy howl.
The mother's love instantly prevailed. For one moment she pricked up
her ears at the sound, and then, lowering them, trotted quietly after
her new master, and followed him to his cottage on the margin of the
lake.

CHAPTER THREE.

SPECULATIVE REMARKS WITH WHICH THE READER MAY OR MAY NOT AGREE--AN OLD
WOMAN--HOPES AND WISHES COMMINGLED WITH HARD FACTS--THE DOG CRUSOE'S
EDUCATION BEGUN.

It is pleasant to look upon a serene, quiet, humble face. On such a
face did Richard Varley look every night when he entered his mother's
cottage. Mrs Varley was a widow, and she had followed the fortunes of
her brother, Daniel Hood, ever since the death of her husband. Love for
her only brother induced her to forsake the peaceful village of
Maryland, and enter upon the wild life of a backwoods settlement.
Dick's mother was thin, and old, and wrinkled, but her face was stamped
with a species of beauty which _never_ fades--the beauty of a loving
look. Ah! the brow of snow and the peach-bloom cheek may snare the
heart of man for a time, but the _loving look_ alone can forge that
adamantine chain that time, age, eternity, shall never break.

Mistake us not, reader, and bear with us if we attempt to analyse this
look which characterised Mrs Varley. A rare diamond is worth stopping
to glance at, even when one is in a hurry! The brightest jewel in the
human heart is worth a thought or two! By a _loving look_, we do not
mean a look of love bestowed on a beloved object. That is common
enough, and thankful should we be that it is so common in a world that's
over-full of hatred. Still less do we mean that smile and look of
intense affection with which some people--good people too--greet friends
and foe alike, and by which effort to work out their _beau ideal_ of the
expression of Christian love, they do signally damage their cause, by
saddening the serious and repelling the gay. Much less do we mean that
_perpetual_ smile o