What Mr. Hugh said did not interest Waddles, who was eager for the hunting, so Happy did not tell it; but as twofoots may like to hear, it is recorded as it happened. “Whose carelessness is this?” asked Mr. Hugh. “Mine,” said Miss Letty, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, before Miss Jule could answer. “I didn’t latch the gate, but the dogs will all be back in a few days, Miss Jule says. What makes you look so fierce? Surely, your dogs are all safe at home?” “That’s exactly what they all are not,” said Mr. Hugh, gnawing the ends of his brown mustache, while his gray eyes flashed green and yellow sparks, and he beat an angry tattoo with his whip on his leather gaiter. “But I’ve not been on your land stealing cherries, or opened your gates,” said Miss Letty, looking puzzled. “That was not necessary. I was walking below in the lane with a string of young, unbroken dogs on leaders--four hounds, and half a dozen setter pups--when a whirlwind of dogs came by, some yelping, some in full cry, with their noses to the ground, some looking in the air, some tumbling over each other on a single trail, and others dashing about between half a dozen. In the hubbub my dogs escaped and followed the others--” “Over the hills and far away!” sang Miss Letty, before Mr. Hugh could finish his sentence, her laughing face breaking into dimples,--“but pray, how could they get away if you had them in leash?” “I let go--that is, the stringer slipped through my hand, and so, because Miss Heedless left that gate open, a fine lot of pups that I bred for exhibition and who have never before left the kennels, have gone goodness knows where, and, ten to one, I shall never see any of them again. I’m awfully annoyed,” and Mr. Hugh swung himself off his horse and fumbled with the bit to cool his heated temper. It would have been better for him if he had stayed mounted, for Mr. Hugh on horseback had a commanding figure, while on the ground his legs seemed too short for his body, so that the sudden change was always something of a shock to the looker-on. Miss Letty coloured a trifle and then said pleasantly, but in quite a firm voice, as if she had decided that she would not be treated like a child any longer: “I don’t wonder that you are annoyed at having been what Anne calls ‘rattled,’ and letting your dogs slip through your fingers, I sympathize with you. I should be if I were you; but I think you will see them again for they will probably kill all the ducks and geese and turkeys they meet. I’ve noticed it’s a way young dogs have on their first outings. Then of course the owners will bring back the dogs and the bills for damages together. Oh, no, your dogs will return.” After that day Mr. Hugh was quite careful how he crossed swords with Miss Letty, and she no longer stood in awe of him, which means that they then began to understand each other without knowing it. * * * * *