They were busy together, kneeling on either side of the dog for quite five minutes, before they raised their eyes and looked at each other, their faces only separated by a dog's width, and Gertrude's eyes fell beneath the admiring glance which seemed to thrill her. "I am very grateful to you for what you have done." "Don't name it. I am very glad." "But will he get well?" "Oh, yes. It will take some little time, of course, but animals have a wonderful faculty for healing up. There, old chap, your case is attended to. No fees and no bills, thank you. Do you know, I believe he understands all about it. Hardly flinched, and I know I must have hurt him a good deal." "He has always been so patient while I bathed his head, and bandaged the cut." "Yes; he knows. There, old chap, you'll know me again, eh?" Bruno licked the hand which took hold of his muzzle, and whined softly. "See that, Miss Bellwood?" "Yes, it is his way of thanking you for what you have done." "No, I think not. It is his way of showing you that I am not an impostor. No dog would make such friends with a rogue." "Are we not giving him the credit of having too much sense?" said Gertrude archly. "Ah, well, perhaps so; but I thank him for giving me this interview. I thought I should like a look round the old place--that is why I came down; and--yes, I can't be a sham--I did hope that I might catch a glimpse of you. Good-bye." He held out his hand again. "Good-bye," she said slowly and sadly; and she once more timidly placed her hand in his, when he raised it to his lips. The next moment he was gone, and Bruno uttered a growl, picked up the stick once more, and carried it to the house, Gertrude walking meditatively before him, and asking herself whether she had done right in talking as she had with such a comparative stranger. Her meditations were broken by the voice of Mrs Denton. "Why, Bruno, good dog, where did you get that stick? Broken too. I've missed that for weeks; it's the one poor dear master used to use when he walked round the garden. Oh, dear, and broken, too. How it does seem to bring him back." But Bruno refused to part with the broken stick, and carried it with him into the stable, where he laid it in the straw beneath his muzzle. Someone felt worse and yet better for that walk down the garden. Perhaps more than one. CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. MR BLANK'S THEORY. Mr Hampton was seated in his dingy office in Lincoln's Inn one morning, when the clerk announced Doctor Lawrence and another gentleman, who were shown in, the old lawyer frowning as he found who the other gentleman was. "You, sir?" he said rather shortly. "Yes, my dear executor," said the young man laughing. "I am sorry to be such a nuisance to you, but I am growing impatient."