for several months life went
on evenly and happily for her.

Indeed, life was always wondrous pleasant, there at The Place,--for
humans and for animals alike. A fire-blue lake bordered the grounds on
two sides. Behind stretched the forest. And on every side arose the
soft green mountains, hemming in and brooding over The Place as though
they loved it. In the winter evenings there was the huge library hearth
with its blaze and warmth; and a disreputable fur rug in front of it
that might have been ordained expressly for tired dogs to drowse on.
And there were the Mistress and the Master. Especially the Mistress!
The Mistress somehow had a way of making all the world seem worth while.

Then, of a morning, when Lass was just eleven months old, two things
happened.

The Mistress and the Master went down to her kennel after breakfast.
Lass did not run forth to greet them as usual. She lay still, wagging
her tail in feeble welcome as they drew near. But she did not get up.

Crowding close to her tawny side was a tiny, shapeless creature that
looked more like a fat blind rat than like anything else. It was a
ten-hour-old collie pup--a male, and yellowish brown of hue.

"That's the climax!" complained the Master, breaking in on the
Mistress's rhapsodies. "Here we've been planning to start a kennel of
home-bred collies! And see what results we get! One solitary puppy! Not
once in ten times are there less than six in a collie-litter. Sometimes
there are a dozen. And here the dog you wheedled me into keeping has
just one! I expected at least seven."

"If it's a freak to be the only puppy in a litter," answered the
Mistress, refusing to part with her enthusiasm over the miracle, "then
this one ought to bring us luck. Let's call him 'Bruce.' You remember,
the original Bruce won because of the mystic number, seven. This Bruce
has got to make up to us for the seven puppies that weren't born. See
how proud she is of him! Isn't she a sweet little mother?"

The second of the morning's events was a visit from the foreman of the
Rothsay Kennels, who motored across to The Place, intent on clearing up
a mystery.

"The Boss found a collie yesterday, tied in the front yard of a negro
cabin a mile or two from our kennels," he told the Master. "He
recognized her right away as Rothsay Princess. The negro claims to have
found her wandering around near the railroad tracks, one night, six
months ago. Now, what's the answer?"

"The answer,"