“Oh!” he said; “it’s only the natural nervousness of a dog brought to a strange house to change one master for another. Go along, Cragg. Show the man into my study. I’ll come down in a moment.” Still looking very doubtful, Cragg disappeared, shutting the door. We three remained silent for a moment. Then Vernon said— “I’m afraid you’re having a very fussy visit, Lord Elyn. Do sit down. I’ll go and pay the man, and be back in a minute.” It was evident to me that he wanted—wanted ungovernably—to see the dog brought into the house. As he stopped speaking he was gone. He had almost darted out of the room. “Dear me!” said Lord Elyn. “Dear me.” He was a delicate, naturally nervous man, and highly sensitive. I could see plainly that he was upset, mystified by this affair of the arrival of the dog. He looked at me as if inquiring of me what it all meant. “I wonder⸺” he began. Then he broke off. After a pause he said— “If the dog often howls as he did just now, Vernon won’t have much peace. I never in my life heard a more distressing noise, eh?” “It was very distressing,” I assented. Lord Elyn did not sit down, but went to and fro in the room like one disturbed. “A most distressing noise!” he repeated, uncomfortably. “Most distressing. It really almost sounded like a human being in agony, didn’t it?” “Yes, it did.” “What sort of dog is it?” he asked presently, standing before me. “Do you know?” “A black spaniel.” “A spaniel? They’re the most sensitive breed of dog I know, intensely nervous and easily frightened, but very affectionate. They attach themselves in an extraordinary manner to those who are kind to them.” “Hulloa!” he exclaimed. The door had reopened, and Vernon came in. “Well,” he said, “it’s all right. I’ve got the dog for twelve pounds.” “Where is it?” said Lord Elyn. “Downstairs in my study. I’ve had to tie him up for the moment. Poor fellow, he’s nervous at getting into a strange house.” “Let’s have a look at him,” said Lord Elyn. I saw that Vernon hesitated, and thought he was going to refuse the request, natural though it was. But if he had intended to do so, he quickly changed his mind. “Certainly,” he said. “Come downstairs. My study is in the part of the house that once belonged to Deeming.” Lord Elyn went out of the room, I followed, and Vernon came last. “To the right!” he said, when we reached the bottom of the staircase. “This corridor unites the two houses.” We followed the direction indicated. “Here’s the study,” said Vernon. “It’s a real workroom, dedicated to the cause of our dumb friends.” “The animals?” said Lord Elyn. “It seems to me, after this evening, that dumb is scarcely the appropriate adjective to apply to them.” Vernon laughed. He had his hand on the door of his study, and was still laughing as he opened it. VIII