The urchin crept to my feet, put his small dirty head on one side, lowered it to the ground, and then rolled over upon his back. With his legs in the air, he regarded me fixedly, tentatively wagging his tail. Dazedly I stooped and patted the mud upon his stomach.... The bright eyes flashed. Then, with a squirm, the Sealyham was on his feet and leaping to lick my face. "B-b-but," shrieked Susan, shaking me by the arm, "is this the--the dog you'd lost?" "Yes," I shouted, "it is!" Not until then did the custodian of the apartments find his tongue. "It is your dog, then!" he raved. "He has marched with us all the time, and I have not seen him. Without an attachment in all these noble rooms! _Mon Dieu!_ dogs may not enter even the grounds, but he must junket in the Château, all vile as he is and smelling like twenty goats." "Listen," said I. "It's my dog all right, but I never brought him. I've been looking all over Pau. What on earth----" "But you must have brought him. It is evident. Myself I have shut all the doors. No one has the keys except me. It is impossible." I pointed to the carved bedstead. "See for yourself," said I. "He's just jumped down." The keeper ran to the bed and peered behind the gorgeous parapet. Then he let out a scream of agony. "Ah, it is true. Ten thousand devils! That so beastly a dog should have soiled Jeanne d'Albret's bed! Observe the nest he has made in her counterpane. _Mon Dieu!_ it is scandalous. _Monsieur_, you will answer for this." "I shall do nothing of the sort," said I. "But, unless you keep your mouth shut, you will. You shouldn't have let him get in." I thought the fellow would have choked. "But it was not I that---- A-a-ah!" he screamed. "See how he approaches the Queen's screen, to destroy it as he has destroyed her bed." "Nonsense," I said shortly. "He's very struck with the furniture. That's all. Anybody would be. But how the deuce...." With tears in his eyes the keeper besought me to remove my dog forthwith. In the circumstances, it seemed best to comply, so, wishing very much that Nobby could speak for himself, I tied my handkerchief to his collar and, with Susan chattering excitedly and clinging to my arm, followed our gibbering guide to the foot of the great staircase. "He must have followed him in," cried Susan. "He simply must. I looked at the chimney, but it's stopped up, and the man says there's no other door. And you know he unlocked each one as we came to it this morning."