used at a luncheon there during
the day, but had seen nothing save the dog, which snarled at her, when
she had gone into the house again. In the morning the gardener found the
body of Mr. ----- lying about midway of an arbor leading from a gateway
to the summer-house. It was supposed that the unfortunate gentleman had
forgotten something, a message or something of that sort, and upon its
recurrence to him had taken the shorter cut to reach the house again, as
he might do naturally, being an intimate friend of the family. That was
all there was of the dispatch.

"Oddly enough, I received no telegram from my wife, but under the
circumstances I could do nothing else than return to my home at once. I
sought my wife, to whom I expressed my horror and my sorrow, but she
said very little. The dog I found in the basement, and he seemed very
glad to see me. It has always been a source of regret to me that dogs
cannot talk. I see that some one has learned that monkeys have a
language, and that he can converse with them, after a fashion. If we
could but talk with dogs!

"I saw the body, of course. I asked a famous surgeon once which would
kill a man the quicker: severance of the carotid artery or the jugular
vein? I forget what his answer was, but in this case it really cut no
figure. The dog had torn both open. It was on the left side. From this I
infer that the dog sprang from the right, and that it was that big fang
in his left upper jaw that did the work. Come here, you brute, and let
me open your mouth! There, you see, as I turn his lips back, what a
beauty of a tooth it is! I've thought of having that particular fang
pulled, and of having it mounted and wearing it as a charm on my
watch-chain, but the dog is likely to die long before I do, and I've
concluded to wait till then. But it's a beautiful tooth!

"I've mentioned, I believe, that my wife was a woman of keen perception.
You will understand that after the unfortunate affair in the garden, our
relations were somewhat--I don't know just what word to use, but we'll
say 'quaint.' It's a pretty little word, and sounds grotesque in this
conversation. One day I provided an allowance for her, a good one, and
came away here alone to play farmer and shoot and fish for four or five
years. Somehow I lost interest in things, and knew I needed a rest. As
for her, she left the house very soon and went to her own home. Oddly
enough, she is in love with me now--in earnest this time.