tishly. "Surely,
after howling like a starved dingo all night--be quiet, Pepper! One of
you is enough." Rose's terrier was up and fidgeting, with pricked ears.

"They must be killing him!" cried Deb, lifting her handsome head from
her book.

"Oh, no," said Rose; "that sort of bark means joy, not pain."

"Poor, dear beast! What's making him joyful, I wonder?"

"I must go up and see," said Rose, who had carefully refrained from
mentioning her forenoon proceedings.

The drowsy pair sank back upon their cushions; only Pepper accompanied
her to the attic room. He jumped upon the window seat, wriggling and
yapping, and they looked forth together from the open casement upon the
spectacle of Bruce and Mr Peter apparently engaged in mortal combat.
The collie had realised that he was off the chain and about to take a
walk, and was expressing himself not merely in frenzied yells, but in
acrobatic feats that threatened to overwhelm his master. The latter,
tall-hatted, frock-coated, lavender-trousered, with a cane in his hand
and a flower in his button-hole, jumped and dodged wildly to escape the
leaping mass, his face puckered with anxiety for the results of his
experiment. Pepper's delighted comments drew his eyes upwards, and he
made shift to raise his hat, with a smile that was instantly and
generously repaid. Rose nodded and waved her hand, and Peter went off,
making gestures and casting backward glances at her, until he was a
mere dot upon the distant road, with another dot circling around him.

"Dear fellow!" she mused, when he was out of sight.

CHAPTER XV.

Bruce went unchained, within limits, and had a run nearly every day.
Workmen came to put a railing and gate to the back verandah of his
establishment, and Mrs Breen kept a fidgety watch upon his movements;
but evidently the only son's will ruled, and he was more than faithful
to his compact with Rose. She was able to see this from her commanding
window, and to hear it from Bruce's mouth; and day by day her heart
warmed towards Bruce's master. Many were the friendly smiles and
salutes that passed between the attic window and the Breen back-yard,
all unknown to Rose's sisters.

They were walking with her one Saturday afternoon, when they met Mr
Peter and the collie. Pepper ran forward to greet Bruce, and they
sniffed at each other's noses and wagged their respective tails in a
friendly way. Deb was remarking to Rose that their pity for the Breens'
dog ha