cked me out of her room, by gad!"

His face burnt. He knew perfectly well that he had deserved to be locked
out, but that did not make the crime any less heinous in his eyes.

He went downstairs in a still, molten frame of mind. The feeling of
physical malaise only added to his mental irritation.

As he reached the hall, Bobby was just coming in from his afternoon walk
with Rosa. He loved this walk with Rosa. She allowed him to do so many
more delightful, interesting things than his French governess. For
instance, Mademoiselle would never in the world have permitted him to
pick up the dear, dirty, lame puppy that he was now squeezing to the
breast of his white coat.

Loring looked down at the clean little boy and the dirty little dog with
a displeased frown. Bobby met this frown with calm defiance, but his
heart began to throb with apprehension for his "sick doggie."

"Where on earth did you get that filthy beast?" asked Loring.

"I found him," said Bobby.

"Well, you can't bring him into the house. In fact, you can't keep him
at all," his step-father remarked grimly. "Put him down. I'll have one
of the men clear him away."

"No," said Bobby.

"Put him down at once! What do you mean by saying 'No' when I tell you
to do a thing?"

"I mean 'no,'" said Bobby.

"You impudent monkey!" said Loring, as peculiarly angry as only a child
can make one. "Here--give me the brute this instant."

He grasped the dog by its nape--Bobby held it tightly about the stomach.
The dog naturally howled.

"Let go, you little imp!" said Loring.

He gave another tug at the dog. It yelped again.

"Leggo my doggie! Leggo--_man_!" cried Bobby furiously.

For reply, Loring wrenched the puppy from him and held it yowling out of
his reach. In a second the boy had thrown himself upon Loring's free
hand, and silently, like a little bull-terrier himself, had set his
small, crimped teeth in it.

Loring gave a savage cry of pain and anger, and dropping the puppy,
which fled under a hall-chair, grabbed the boy. He prized open the
furious little jaws. The child was white and red in patches with the
extremity of his wrath. Loring pinioned him, and started towards the
stairs. He was met by Sophy running down them. She was very pale.

"What's the matter? What are you doing with Bobby?" she asked. She held
out her arms. "Give him to me," she said.

"Excuse me," said Loring. "This is our affair ... between Bobby and me.
I'm going to teach hi