voured. The
very word made her prick up her ears, show her teeth, and straighten her
tail as far as she could. For the appendage did not lend itself readily
to the effort; it was in texture like that of a colley or Pomeranian,
and twisted like that of a pug. Curiously enough, her objection to
civilians did not extend to the female portion, but the sight of a
blouse drove her frantic with rage. On such occasions, she had to be
chained up. As a rule, however, Brusca's manifestations, whether of
pleasure or the reverse, were uttered in a minor key and unaccompanied
by any change of position on her part. She mostly lay at the marshal's
feet, if she was not perched on the back of his chair, for Brusca was
not a large dog. She accompanied the marshal in his walks and drives,
she sat by his side at table, she slept on a rug at the foot of his bed.
Now and then she took a gentle stroll through the apartment, carefully
examining the dried plants and beetles. But one day, or rather one
evening, there was a complete change in her behaviour: it was at one of
the marshal's receptions, on the occasion of Emperor Francis-Joseph's
visit to Paris. Some of the officers of his Majesty's suite had been
invited, and at the sight of the, to her, once familiar uniforms her
delight knew no bounds. She was standing at the top of the landing when
she caught sight of them, and all those present thought for a moment
that the creature was going mad. As a matter of course, Brusca was not
allowed to come into the reception-rooms, but on that night there was no
keeping her out. Locked up in the marshal's bedroom, she made the place
ring with her barks and yells, and they had to let her out. With one
bound she was in the drawing-rooms, and for three hours she did not
leave the side of the Austrian officers. When they took their
departure, Brusca was perfectly ready, nay eager, to abandon her home
and her fond master for their sake, and had to be forcibly prevented
from doing so. The marshal did not know whether to cry or to laugh, but
in the end he felt ready to forgive Brusca for her contemplated
desertion of him in favour of her countrymen. Some one who objected to
the term got the snub direct. "Je maintiens ce que j'ai dit,
compatriotes; et je serais rudement fier d'avoir une compatriote comme
elle."

If possible, Brusca from that moment rose in the marshal's estimation;
she was a perfect paragon. "Cette chienne n'a pas seulement toutes les
qualite