show it to the missus presently.'

"`Worth a tidy sum,' said the fat man, and went on smoking.

"Was ever a dog of my rank and position brought down so low? No one
took any more notice of me, or seemed to think me of any importance, and
I remained shivering on the table with large tears rolling down my
cheeks. How I repented my folly! I had wanted to see the world, and
here it was, a miserable contrast to my happy life at home, where I was
fondled and admired by everyone. Foolish, foolish little dog that I had
been! I began to think too how my dear little mistress would miss me,
and how they would search everywhere and call for me in vain, and the
more I thought the more painful it all seemed. A long and wretched time
passed in this way, during which the fat man, who was a coachman I
afterwards heard, puffed at his pipe and read his newspaper, sometimes
shaking his head and talking to himself a little. He hardly seemed to
know I was there, and I believe if the door had been open I could easily
have escaped, for the other man had gone out of the room. But there was
no chance of that; by and by he came back, took me under his arm and
went out into the street again. Where was he going, I wondered. He had
talked of the missus, but if the missus was any friend of his I had no
hope that she would prove agreeable. It was a great surprise,
therefore, to find myself a little later in a large house where there
were soft carpets, and pictures, and flowers, and everything I have been
used to see around me. Not only this, but I was most warmly received by
a lady, who called me a duck, a darling, a love, and a beauty. These
familiar names, which I had been accustomed to hear from my birth, made
me feel somewhat at home, and I began to take comfort. At any rate, I
was now with people who knew how to behave to me, and would treat me
with consideration. I passed the rest of the day, therefore, in peace,
though I still sighed for my own mistress, and had no appetite for the
new roll and cream offered me.

"All my fears returned, however, for to my distress I was sent back to
sleep at the coachman's house, where I passed the night full of anxiety
and the most dismal thoughts. How would all this end? Who can picture
my ecstasy of delight the next morning when I heard the sound of your
mother's voice talking to the coachman below? I need not tell you how
she had succeeded in tracing me through the green-grocer, who had s