Pauline flung her arms around her father’s neck. Napkin in hand, he kissed her, and then stood back to gaze at this young girl, a mysterious being, like all young girls, whom, after a year’s absence, he hardly recognized. She was at once very near and almost a stranger to him. She was his by virtue of the obscure sources of life, but she eluded him in the dazzling energy of youth. “How do you do, papa?” Her very voice had changed; it was lower and less uneven. “How you have grown, my child!” He thought her pretty, with her dainty nose, intelligent eyes and quizzical mouth. But this feeling was at once marred by the reflection that there is little peace in this world of ours, and that young people, seeking for happiness, are entering upon a difficult and uncertain enterprise. He gave Zoe a hasty kiss upon either cheek. “You have not altered, Zoe, my dear. I did not expect you to-day, but I am very glad to see you both again.” Riquet could not understand why his master gave so warm a welcome to strange folk. Had he violently driven them forth, he could have understood. However, he was used to not understanding all the ways of men. Suffering Monsieur Bergeret to do as he would, he continued to perform his duty, barking furiously to scare the evil-doers. Then, from the depths of his throat, he drew growls of hatred and anger; and a frightful contraction of his lips uncovered his white teeth. Backing away from his enemies, he hurled threats at them. “Is that your dog, papa?” “You were to have come on Saturday,” remarked Monsieur Bergeret. “Didn’t you get my letter?” inquired Zoe. “Yes,” replied Monsieur Bergeret. “No, I mean the other one.” “I received only one.” “One cannot hear oneself speak here!” It is true that Riquet was barking at the top of his voice. “Your sideboard is dusty,” remarked Zoe, putting her muff on it. “Doesn’t your servant ever do any dusting?” Riquet could not bear anyone to lay hold of the sideboard like that. Either he had conceived a special aversion for Mademoiselle Zoe or he judged her the more important of the two, for it was to her that he addressed his loudest barks and growls. When he saw her place a hand upon the receptacle in which the human nutriment was stored he barked so shrilly that the glasses upon the table rang again. Mademoiselle Zoe, turning upon him suddenly, inquired ironically: “Are you going to eat me up?” Riquet fled in terror. “Is your dog vicious, papa?” “No, he is intelligent; he isn’t vicious.” “I don’t think he’s particularly intelligent,” said Zoe. “Yes, he is,” said Monsieur Bergeret. “He does not understand all our ideas; but we don’t understand all his. No one can enter into the mind of another.” “You, Lucien, are no judge of persons,” said Zoe. Monsieur Bergeret turned to Pauline. “Come, let me have a look at you. I can hardly recognize you.”