ter appeared from the kennels, carrying
Bruce.

The puppy was set down on the veranda floor for Dick's inspection.

"He's cunning, isn't he? Kind of like a Teddy Bear,--the sort kids play
with. But," with a tinge of worry, "I'm not sure Ma will let me keep
two. Maybe--"

"Perhaps," suggested the Mistress, "perhaps you'd like us to keep
little Bruce, to remember Lass by? We'll try to make him very happy."

"Yes'm!" agreed Dick, in much haste, his brow clearing from a mental
vision of Mrs. Hazen's face when she should see him return with twice
as many dogs as he had set out for. "Yes'm. If you wouldn't mind, very
much. S'pose we leave it that way? I guess Bruce'll like being with
you, Miss. I--I guess pretty near anybody would. You'll--you'll try not
to be too homesick for Lass, won't you?"

On the steps of the veranda the downy and fat puppy watched his
mother's departure with no especial interest. By the Mistress's wish,
Mr. Hazen had not been required to make any part of his proffered
hundred-dollar payment for the return of his boy's pet. All the
Mistress had stipulated was that Lass might be allowed to remain at The
Place until baby Bruce should no longer need her.

"Bruce," said the Mistress as the car rolled up the drive and out of
sight, "you are the sole visible result of The Place's experiment in
raising prize collies. You have a tremendous responsibility on those
fat little shoulders of yours,--to live up to it all."

By way of showing his scorn for such trifles as a "tremendous
responsibility," Bruce proceeded to make a ferocious onslaught at the
Mistress's temperamental gray Persian kitten, "Tipperary," which was
picking a mincing way across the veranda.

A howl of pain and two scratches on his tiny nose immediately followed
the attack. Tipperary then went on with her mincing promenade. And
Bruce, with loud lamentations, galloped to the shelter of the
Mistress's skirt.

"Poor little chap!" soothed the Mistress, picking him up and comforting
him. "Responsibility isn't such a joke, after all, is it, Baby?"

CHAPTER II. The Pest

Thackeray, as a lad, was dropped from college for laziness and for
gambling. Bismarck failed to get a University degree, because he lacked
power to study and because he preferred midnight beer to midnight oil.
George Washington, in student days, could never grasp the simplest
rules of spelling. The young Lincoln loved to sprawl in the shade with
fish-pole or tattered b