There was no doubt in Mrs. Lee's mind but that the dog belonged to the man. "My children are going to be heartbroken," she commenced slowly. "Could we buy--" The old man snorted angrily. "Buy Jacky? Don't you know he's a very valuable dog? And anyway, you haven't enough money to buy his companionship from me! Your children can get another dog, Madam, but for me there is only one Jacky!" As he spoke with fumbling fingers he drew out a card and a dollar bill. "Pay the boy his dollar, Madam. Take him down, Briggs. Very sorry, Madam, but good-day!" Briggs pulled on the collar and Pilot went down the steps very slowly. He knew in his dog-mind that something was happening! He turned and looked appealingly at Mrs. Lee. She was standing very still and was not helping him at all! He tried to tell her to tell Billy that he had to do his duty and when this man called him Jacky he knew he had to go, but he would always love his young master best! So when the children returned to the house, cheeks red with the wind, splashed with mud, tired and happy, there was no Pilot to greet them! Mrs. Lee told them the story; tried to tell it in such a way that the children would feel sorry for the lonely old man who had been so happy at finding his dog! But Billy raged--his high-pitched voice choking over the sob that struggled in his throat. He threw the dollar and the card savagely to the floor. "Wouldn't you have thought the old thing would have at least given Billy a reward!" cried Peggy indignantly. Though she did not answer this, Mrs. Lee smiled, as she recalled the reluctance with which the old man had extracted even the one-dollar bill from his pocket. "I don't want any old reward--I just want Pilot! If we hadn't gone away and left him that old man would never have found him," Billy wailed. "Couldn't we buy him, Mother?" "The dog is worth a great deal of money. I'm afraid we could scarcely afford it, my dear, even if the man would part with him. Billy must look at the thing in a sensible way." She laid her hand on Billy's shoulder. "Pilot will miss you as much as you do him, my son! But you have a great many other things to make you happy and I should judge that that old man had nothing!" Keineth went up to her room to take off her muddy shoes. On her bureau she found a letter Nora had placed there. In the corner of the envelope was printed in large letters: "Brown and Company." She tore it open with fingers trembling with excitement. It was from the music publishers, telling her that they would publish her "Castle of Dreams," and for its purchase had enclosed a check. And Keineth, unfolding the small slip of paper, saw written there: "The Sum of Twenty-five Dollars." "Peggy! Peg-gy!" CHAPTER XXII KEINETH'S GIFT Twenty-five dollars! To Keineth it seemed like a fortune!