“I think Hamlet is very clever. No, Waddles does not do tricks; but he knows a great deal, and a great many things that take a great deal of thinking out. For one thing, he knows how to take care of himself, though I can’t say that he always minds so very well; but I am sure that he is a more durable country dog than Hamlet.” “Minding is everything,” said Miss Letty, decidedly; “Hamlet obeys every word I say, and so he never really has to think for himself. Sh! _Tais-toi!_” she cried, clapping her hands, for Hamlet having once started to bark in honour of the French Republic had no mind to stop; and as every one knows, who has either owned or lived next door to one, a poodle has a voice of such piercing and incessant shrillness that even a fence cat on a moonlight night cannot compete with it. Hamlet would not listen, and kept on tearing round the house and barking, until not only all the dogs in the kennels were set agog, but the signal travelled over Dogtown and answering barks could be heard for a mile away, while Miss Jule put her fingers in her ears and Anne burst out laughing in spite of herself. “He’s a little upset,” said his mistress when he was finally quiet; “he is not used to so much space, and it’s gone to his head.”--“Come,” she called, speaking French rapidly, “sit up and smoke your pipe to calm yourself, and read the paper.” Hamlet meekly mounted the stand again, while his mistress produced a short clay pipe from her work-bag that hung by the hammock and stuck it in his mouth, perched Miss Jule’s eyeglasses upon his nose, and held the morning paper before him. “No, do not look at me--read!” she said, as his eyes rolled about in a helpless sort of fashion, “read until I stop counting.” [Illustration] “Now,” she said, when the lesson was over, “we will all go and play hide-and-seek. Do you know the French for that, Anne? No? Well, it is _câche-câche_. Come, Tommy, I will race you to the wall;” tossing her skirt once more over her arm, Miss Letty whirled away,--muslin, lace, openwork stockings, high-heeled slippers, and all,--Anne and Tommy padding along after in their broad-soled shoes. Miss Jule stopped laughing and sighed, saying to herself: “She is sunny tempered and bright, but she has more need to learn American of Anne than Anne has to learn French. I was afraid this morning that the farm was too dull a place for such a dainty lady, but I believe this visit will be the making of her. If only _something_ would happen to the poodle. He gets on my nerves, though I can’t tell why, and I’d quite forgotten that I had any.” This was a strange opinion to come from Miss Jule, who was the friend of every little cur in Dogtown, and had been known to pay the license for more than one poor body in danger of losing a seemingly worthless pet. * * * * *