st
his master had gone on leave to be married in England. Hector, too,
was "a snow-white bull-dog (who was certainly as well bred and as
amiable as any living creature in the kingdom)," with a pink nose that
"became crimson with increased agitation." He was absolutely gentle
with human beings, but a hopeless adept at fighting with his own kind,
and many of my sister's letters and note-books were adorned with
sketches of Hector as he appeared swollen about the head, and subdued
in spirits, after some desperate encounter; or, with cards spread out
in front of him, playing, as she delighted to make him do, at "having
his fortune told."[17] But, instead of the four Queens standing for
four ladies of different degrees of complexion, they represented his
four favourite dishes of--1. Welsh rabbit. 2. Blueberry pudding. 3.
Pork sausages. 4. Buckwheat pancakes and molasses; and "the Fortune"
decided which of these dainties he was to have for supper.

[Illustration: THE BULLDOGUE's FORTUNE]

[Footnote 17: Letter, November 3, 1868.]

Shortly before the Ewings started from Fredericton they went into the
barracks, whence a battalion of some regiment had departed two days
before, and there discovered a large black retriever who had been left
behind. It is needless to say that this deserted gentleman entirely
overcame their feelings; he was at once adopted, named "Trouve," and
brought home to England, where he spent a very happy life, chiefly in
the South Camp, Aldershot, his one danger there being that he was such
a favourite with the soldiers, they over-fed him terribly. Never did a
more benevolent disposition exist, his broad forehead and kind eyes,
set widely apart, did not belie him; there was a strong strain of
Newfoundland in his breed, and a strong likeness to a bear in the way
his feathered paws half crossed over each other in walking. Trouve
appears as "Nox" in "Benjy," and there is a glimpse of him in "The
Sweep," who ended his days as a "soldier's dog" in "The Story of a
Short Life." Trouve did, in reality, end his days at Ecclesfield,
where he is buried near "Rough," the broken-haired bull-terrier, who
is the real hero in "Benjy," Amongst the various animal friends whom
Julie had either of her own, or belonging to others, none was lovelier
than the golden-haired collie "Rufus," who was at once the delight
and distraction of the last year of her life at Taunton, by the tricks
he taught himself of very gently extracting