nd he was very hungry, and it smelt
so good. He had climbed on to a chair and sniffed at it, and got a
little nearer and nearer, and all the time he knew quite well he was
doing wrong. And at last he jumped up and began to eat great juicy
mouthfuls of it. Oh, how good it was! And he pulled it this way and
that, and the cloth on the sideboard had got all crumpled up, and
suddenly down went a dish of beetroot with a smash, and all the rich red
juice streamed over the cloth and on to the carpet. He was frightened
then, and turned to run away; but his broad, flat paws had got into the
beetroot juice, and he left great marks all across the cloth. He heard
the latchkey in the front-door just at that moment, and he ran upstairs
and hid under Ethel's bed. Then the family came in, and he heard their
cry of dismay, and Ethel called for him; but he only hid deeper under
the bed. And then she came into the room, and said quite quietly, as if
she knew he was there, though she never looked under the bed: 'Oh,
Scamp! how could you?' And his broad tail went thump, thump against the
floor. So he was dragged out and whipped, and he felt very much ashamed
of himself.

Oh dear! if he could only get back to them all he would never do such
naughty things again!

In the morning two or three other dogs were put into his yard, and
though he wouldn't speak to them at all, and was too miserable to play,
he heard what they said. One of them had been here before, and he
explained that all the well-bred dogs, the good ones, were kept for a
certain time to allow their people to come and find them, and if at the
end of that time no one came for them they were sold; but the mongrels
and little dogs that were of no value--well, it was very curious what
happened to them. They went to sleep in a nice warm place like a drawer,
but they never woke up again. They did not suffer at all, and it was all
arranged very kindly. 'And of course,' said the dog who was speaking,
'it is quite right there should be some distinction between me and a
mongrel!' She was very proud of herself, being a King Charles's
spaniel, with soft brown and white hair and hanging ears and large
goggle eyes. She came up to talk to Scamp after awhile; but he would not
say anything to her, for his heart was sore within him. Yet what he had
heard gave him some hope. All that day he sat with his face pressed
close to the wires of the yard, watching, watching for his own people.
Why did they