he spied two bright sparkling eyes and a small silvery grey head
perking up at him through the leaves,--the head of a tiny Yorkshire
"toy" terrier. It looked at him with eloquent anxiety, and as he
approached it, it made an effort to move, but fell back again with a
faint moan. Gently he picked it up,--it was a rare and beautiful little
creature, but one of its silky forepaws had evidently been caught in
some trap, for it was badly mangled and bleeding. Round its neck was a
small golden collar, something like a lady's bracelet, bearing the
inscription: "I am Charlie. Take care of me!" There was no owner's name
or address, and the entreaty "Take care of me!" had certainly not been
complied with, or so valuable a pet would not have been left wounded on
the highroad. While Helmsley was examining it, it ceased whining, and
gently licked his hand. Seeing a trickling stream of water making its
way through the moss and ferns close by, he bathed the little dog's
wounded paw carefully and tied it up with a strip of material torn from
his own coat sleeve.

"So you want to be taken care of, do you, Charlie!" he said, patting the
tiny head. "That's what a good many of us want, when we feel hurt and
broken by the hard ways of the world!" Charlie blinked a dark eye,
cocked a small soft ear, and ventured on another caress of the kind
human hand with his warm little tongue. "Well, I won't leave you to
starve in the woods, or trust you to the tender mercies of the
police,--you shall come along with me! And if I see any advertisement
of your loss I'll perhaps take you back to your owner. But in the
meantime we'll stay together."

Charlie evidently agreed to this proposition, for when Helmsley tucked
him cosily under his arm, he settled down comfortably as though well
accustomed to the position. He was certainly nothing of a weight to
carry, and his new owner was conscious of a certain pleasure in feeling
the warm, silky little body nestling against his breast. He was not
quite alone any more,--this little creature was a companion,--a
something to talk to, to caress and to protect. He ascended the bank,
and regaining the highroad resumed his vagrant way. Noon was now at the
full, and the sun's heat seemed to create a silence that was both
oppressive and stifling. He walked slowly, and began to feel that
perhaps after all he had miscalculated his staying powers, and that the
burden of old age would, in the end, take vengeance upon him fo