w and liked so well.

"Thorny, what is the matter with Ben?" asked Miss Celia, one day, when
she and her brother were alone in the "green parlor," as they called
the lilac-tree walk.

"Fretting about Sanch, I suppose. I declare I wish that dog had never
been born! Losing him has just spoilt Ben. Not a bit of fun left in
him, and he wont have anything I offer to cheer him up."

Thorny spoke impatiently, and knit his brows over the pressed flowers
he was neatly gumming into his herbal.

"I wonder if he has anything on his mind? He acts as if he was hiding a
trouble he didn't dare to tell. Have you talked with him about it?"
asked Miss Celia, looking as if _she_ was hiding a trouble _she_ did not
like to tell.

"Oh, yes, I poke him up now and then, but he gets peppery, so I let him
alone. May be he's longing for his old circus again. Shouldn't blame
him much if he was; it isn't very lively here, and he's used to
excitement, you know."

"I hope it isn't that. Do you think he would slip away without telling
us, and go back to the old life again?"

"Don't believe he would. Ben isn't a bit of a sneak, that's why I like
him."

"Have you ever found him sly or untrue in any way?" asked Miss Celia,
lowering her voice.

"No; he's as fair and square a fellow as I ever saw. Little bit low,
now and then, but he doesn't mean it, and wants to be a gentleman, only
he never lived with one before, and it's all new to him. I'll get him
polished up after a while."

"Oh, Thorny, there are _three_ peacocks on the place, and you are the
finest!" laughed Miss Celia, as her brother spoke in his most
condescending way with a lift of the eyebrows very droll to see.

"And _two_ donkeys, and Ben's the biggest, not to know when he is well
off and be happy!" retorted the "gentleman," slapping a dried specimen
on the page as if he were pounding discontented Ben.

"Come here and let me tell you something which worries me. I would not
breathe it to another soul, but I feel rather helpless, and I dare say
you can manage the matter better than I."

Looking much mystified, Thorny went and sat on the stool at his sister's
feet, while she whispered confidentially in his ear: "I've lost some
money out of my drawer, and I'm _so_ afraid Ben took it."

"But it's always locked up and you keep the keys of the drawer and the
little room?"

"It is gone, nevertheless, and I've had my keys safe all the time."

"But why think it is he any more than R