from which he hastily
concluded that the dog must have devoured him; and, giving vent to his
rage, plunged his sword to the hilt in Gelert's side.

7. The noble animal fell at his feet, uttering a dying yell, which
awoke the infant, who was sleeping beneath a mingled heap of the
bed-clothes, while beneath the bed lay a great wolf covered with gore,
which the faithful and gallant hound had destroyed.

8. Llewellyn, smitten with sorrow and remorse for the rash and frantic
deed which had deprived him of so faithful an animal, caused an elegant
marble monument, with an appropriate inscription, to be erected over the
spot where Gelert was buried, to commemorate his fidelity and unhappy
fate. The place, to this day, is called Beth-Gelert, or The Grave of the
Greyhound.

LESSON XXV.

_Knock Again._--CHILD'S COMPANION.

1. I remember having been sent, when I was a very little boy, with a
message from my father to a particular friend of his, who resided in the
suburbs of the town in which my parents then lived.

2. This gentleman occupied an old-fashioned house, the door of which was
approached by a broad flight of stone steps of a semi-circular form. The
brass knocker was an object of much interest to me, in those days; for
the whim of the maker had led him to give it the shape of an elephant's
head, the trunk of the animal being the movable portion.

3. Away, then, I scampered, in great haste; and having reached the
house, ran up the stone steps as usual; and, seizing the elephant's
trunk, made the house reecho to my knocking. No answer was returned.

4. At this my astonishment was considerable, as the servants, in the
times I write of, were more alert and attentive than they are at
present. However, I knocked a second time. Still no one came.

5. At this I was much more surprised. I looked at the house. It
presented no appearance of a desertion. Some of the windows were open to
admit the fresh air, for it was summer; others of them were closed. But
all had the aspect of an inhabited dwelling.

6. I was greatly perplexed; and looked around, to see if any one was
near who could advise me how to act. Immediately a venerable old
gentleman, whom I had never seen before, came across the way, and,
looking kindly in my face, advised me to knock again.

7. I did so without a moment's hesitation, and presently the door was
opened, so that I had an opportunity of delivering my message. I
afterward learned that the s