"Well, take me to them anyhow," said Betty. The farmer, his wife, Ben and Sammy, and the three Vivian girls tramped across the yard, and presently arrived opposite the kennels where Dan and Beersheba were straining at the end of their chains. When they heard footsteps they began to bark vociferously, but the moment they saw Betty their barking ceased; they whined and strained harder than ever in their wild rapture. Betty instantly flung herself on her knees by Dan's side and kissed him on the forehead. The dog licked her little hand, and was almost beside himself with delight. As to poor Beersheba, he very nearly went mad with jealousy over the attention paid to Dan. "You see for yourself," said Betty, looking into the farmer's face, "the dogs will be all right with me. You must let them loose while I am here." "It do seem quite wonderful," said the farmer. "Now, don't it, wife?" "A'most uncanny, I call it," said Mrs. Miles. "But before you let them loose I must introduce my sisters to them," said Betty. "Sylvia, come here. Sylvia, kneel by me." The girl did so. The dogs were not quite so much excited over Sylvia as they were over Betty, but they also licked their hands and wagged their tails in great delight. Hester went through the same form of introduction; and then, somewhat against his will, the farmer gave the dogs their liberty. Betty said, in a commanding tone, "To heel, good boys, at once!" and the wild and savage dogs obeyed her. She paced up and down the yard in a state of rapture at her conquest over these fierce animals. Then she whispered something to Sylvia, who in her turn whispered to Mrs. Miles, who in her turn whispered to Ben; the result of which was that three wicker chairs were brought from the house, Betty and her sisters seated themselves, and the dogs sprawled in ecstasy at their side. "Oh, we are happy!" said Betty. "Mrs. Miles, was your heart ever very starvingly empty?" "Times, maybe," said Mrs. Miles, who had gone, like most of her sex, through a chequered career. "And weren't you glad when it got filled up to the brim again?" "That I was," said Mrs. Miles. "My heart was a bit starved this morning," said Betty; "but it feels full to the brim now. Please, dear, good Mrs. Miles, leave us five alone together. Go all of you away, and let us stay alone together." "Meanin' by that you three ladies and them dogs?" "Yes, that is what I mean."