going to get rid of her.
He'll wake up in the morning and find she's gone; and the door'll be
open. He'll think she's run away. He'll go looking for her, and he'll
keep on hoping to find her. So that'll ease the shock, you see, by
letting him down bit by bit, instead of snatching his pet away from him
violent-like. And he won't hold it up against US, either, as he would
the other way. I can offer a reward for her, too."

There was a long and thought-crammed pause. The woman plunged deep into
the silences as her fat brain wrought over the suggestion. Then--

"Maybe you HAVE got just a few grains of sense, after all, Ed,"
grudgingly vouchsafed Mrs. Hazen. "It isn't a bad idea. Only he'll
grieve a lot for her."

"He'll be hoping, though," said her husband. "He'll be hoping all the
while. That always takes the razor-edge off of grieving. Leave it to
me."

That was the happiest day Dick Hazen had ever known. And it was the
first actively happy day in all Lass's five months of life.

Boy and dog spent hours in a ramble through the woods. They began
Lass's education--which was planned to include more intricate tricks
than a performing elephant and a troupe of circus dogs could hope to
learn in a lifetime. They became sworn chums. Dick talked to Lass as if
she were human. She amazed the enraptured boy by her cleverness and
spirits. His initiation to the dog-masters' guild was joyous and
complete.

It was a tired and ravenous pair of friends who scampered home at
dinner-time that evening. The pallor was gone from Dick's face. His
cheeks were glowing, and his eyes shone. He ate greedily. His parents
looked covertly at each other. And the self-complacency lines around
Hazen's mouth blurred.

Boy and dog went to bed early, being blissfully sleepy and full of
food--also because another and longer woodland ramble was scheduled for
the morrow.

Timidly Dick asked leave to have Lass sleep on the foot of his cot-bed.
After a second telegraphing of glances, his parents consented. Half an
hour later the playmates were sound asleep, the puppy snuggling deep in
the hollow of her master's arm, her furry head across his thin chest.

It was in this pose that Hazen found them when, late in the evening, he
tiptoed into Dick's cubby-hole room. He gazed down at the slumberous
pair for a space, while he fought and conquered an impulse toward fair
play. Then he stooped to pick up the dog.

Lass, waking at the slight creak of a floorboar