"And there's breeding about that terrier of yours, and no
mistake!"

Pat was still breathing quickly and wagging his tail excitedly, as if
expecting another battle. "You are a stranger to me, and yet I seem to
know your face. What is your name?"

Dick almost answered "Lionheart," but stopped just in time. "Richard
Hart Crosby."

"Of course! And you're his living image; but he had neither wife nor
child."

"Do you mean my uncle, sir. Do you know him."

"Know Dick Crosby? Almost as well as I know Nellie here. And I've
heard him speak of his brother many times."

"Then, sir, if you know him, won't you tell me where he lives, that I
may go to him at once? I only heard about him just lately, and I've
come all the way from Venley to find him."

"I'll tell you all I can, but you can't go to him to-day, for he went
off to Klondyke more than a year ago, and I've only heard from him once
since he went."

Poor Dick! The disappointment following so quickly on success was
almost too much. A big lump came in his throat and tears blurred his
sight, so that he could scarcely see the ugly rubbish heap and the
cinders that lay around.

But he had made resolve that he would not cry, whatever happened, and
so he resolutely ordered tears away and again faced his new friend.

"How did you get here, laddie?"

"Walked from Venley--all but forty miles I came by train."

"Well, then, you must walk a bit further and come home with me. Dick
Crosby was my good friend, and you have saved the kitten and maybe
Nellie herself from ill-usage. It's dinner time, so you are just
right. Run, Nellie, there is mother watching at the door."

They were walking now in a wider thoroughfare with better houses on
either side. At the door of one a motherly woman stood looking out
anxiously, and to her Nellie ran with a joyous shout. "Oh, mother,
I've got kitty, and daddy's got a boy out there with such a nice dog,
only kitty doesn't like him. She makes her tail like a sweeping brush."

"But where have you been, Nellie? We lost you, and father had to come
after you."

"It's all right now, wife. I found her--or rather this little man
found her, and helped her too, so I've brought him home to dinner."
And in a few words he told the tale, while Pat sent Nellie into shrieks
of delight by standing up and begging in his best manner. Doubtless he
smelled the savoury Irish stew that was just ready.

And Mrs. Dainton hurried them all in