er ought
to know that I am too old for a hobby-horse. It vexes me to look at
it."

"I must wait for the charger, I see," said the Dog. "Nothing vexes you
but the hobby-horse, I hope?"

"Aldegunda vexes me more than anything," answered the boy, with an
aggrieved air; "and it's very hard when I am so fond of her. She
always tumbles down when we run races, her legs are so short. It's her
birthday to-day, but she toddles as badly as she did yesterday, though
she's a year older."

"She will have learned to run by the time that you are a man," said
the Dog. "So nice a little lady can give you no other cause of
annoyance, I am sure?"

The boy frowned.

"She is always wanting something; She wants something now, I see. What
do you want, Aldegunda?"

"I wish--" said Aldegunda, timidly, "I should like--the blind man to
have the silver crown, and for us to keep the penny, if you can get it
back out of the hat."

"That's just the way you go on," said the boy angrily. "You always
think differently from me. Now remember, Aldegunda, I won't marry you
when you grow big, unless you agree with what I do, like the wife in
the story of 'What the Goodman does is sure to be right.'"

On hearing this, Aldegunda sobbed till she burst the strings of her
hat, and the boy had to tie them afresh.

"I won't marry you at all if you cry," said he.

But at that she only cried the more, and they went away bickering into
the green lanes.

As to the old man, he had heard nothing; and when the dog licked his
withered hand, he smiled.

Many a time did the boy return with his playmate to try and get the
Talking Dog. But the Dog always asked if he had yet got all that he
wanted, and, being an honorable child, the boy was too truthful to say
that he was content when he was not.

"The day that you want nothing more but me I will be your dog," it
said. "Unless, indeed, my present master should have attained perfect
happiness before you."

"I am not afraid of that," said the boy.

In time the Mayor died, and his widow moved to her native town and
took her son with her.

Years passed, and the Blind Man lived on; for when one gets very old
and keeps very quiet in his little corner of the world, Death seems
sometimes to forget to remove him.

Years passed, and the Mayor's son became a man, and was strong and
rich, and had a fine black charger. Aldegunda grew up also. She was
very beautiful, wonderfully beautiful, and Love (who is blind) gave