ing? Well, he died of distemper, poor little brute; but I have heard
of another of the same kind that has had the complaint. I could get him
for you if you cared to have him."

"Oh! I am so much obliged to you, Mr. Robinson, so very much obliged,"
cried May, beaming with gratitude and pleasure. "Rose and I did so wish
to have that dear little puppy which you brought down to show to us
once--don't you remember? and so it is dead, poor little pet; and Rose
has gone away to London to be regularly trained as an artist, just as
Annie is in St. Ebbe's learning to be a nurse. I suppose you have
heard," she ended a little solemnly.

"Yes, I have heard--let me carry these books for you a bit--what is
there of Redcross news that one does not hear?" Then he paused abruptly,
while there darted simultaneously across his mind and May's whether his
speech did not sound as if he thought that Dora Millar's refusal of him
must be public property? "For that very reason," he went on with a
momentary shade of awkwardness, "I mean, because two of your sisters are
gone, I fancied you might like this other little dog to keep you
company."

"I have Dora," said May simply, and then she dashed on in an unhappy
consciousness that she ought not to have mentioned Dora's name to him on
any account. "I should like it immensely though--thank you a hundred
thousand times, it was so good of you to think of me. But Rose could not
have it now, could she? and she wished it quite as much as I did. It
does not seem nice to have it when she is not here to share it,"
finished May, with wistful jealousy for Rose's rights in the matter.

"I do not see the force of that objection," said Tom Robinson,
cheerfully. "Rose has something else instead. She has all London to
occupy her. I am certain she would like you to make the best of Redcross
without her."

"Yes, and of course the little dog would be half hers, the same as if
Rose were here. She would see it every time she came home. She might
have her turn of it at her studio, when she gets a studio. In the
meantime I could write full particulars of it, how it grew and what it
learnt. Oh, Mr. Robinson, has it white boots like the other you
brought?"

"I am afraid I did not attend to his boots, or to his stockings either
for that matter," said Tom with a laugh; "but he has a coal-black
muzzle, his teeth are in perfect order, and I believe he has the correct
tan spots."

"If mother would let us," said May long