After the Long Bills. 



13 



they are! Hal in more dit;fnified 

 manner than Meg, who etfnsive as all 

 setters are, ran backward and forward, 

 first to inyself, then to my better half, 

 receiving a caress from each in turn, 

 until she is almost beside herself with 

 joy. Hal, on the contrary, contents 

 himself with a pull at his soft, silken 

 ears, holds tip his head for a pat and a 

 smoothing brush and then sedately 

 moves away, selects the softest rug and 

 turning around one or twice curls him- 

 self up in a half circle and goes to 

 sleep. Meg keeps up her demonstra- 

 tions of love vmtil both wife and I have 

 had enough; indeed, she seems never 

 to tire of the smoothing out of her ears 

 or the scratching of her throat, and 

 consequently as we do tire of patting 

 her, she is told to lie down. She obeys, 

 of course, for she is thoroughly broken, 

 but .she simply sinks to the floor, at my 

 very feet, from which position she looks 

 to me appealingly, as much as to say, 

 " How can you be so cross to me, when 

 you know I love you so much." In a 

 few moments my better half is called 

 out of the rooin for some purpose or 

 other in our household affairs, and I am 

 all alone with my four-footed compan- 

 ions. The night is warm ; sultry, in 

 fact. The windows and doors are wide 

 open, to admit as much as possible of 

 the little air that is stirring. The 

 windows are screened with wire, as a 

 matter of course, but through the 

 meshes I can easily see the flitting of 

 the fire-fly, and, alas, hear as well the 

 hum of New Jersey's pest — the beastly 

 mosquito. What with the closeness of 

 the night and the fatigue of the pre- 

 ceding day, I am soon sound asleep. 

 A low growl from Hal awakes me. I 

 hear the sharp tread of a hurrying man 

 outside on the stone walk. My gate is 

 opened and slammed too with a bang. 



Hal and Meg jump to their feet and 

 bark in unison as the bell rings, an- 

 nouncing a visitor. I am almost 

 ashamed to say I growled to myself, 

 keeping the dogs company. I supposed 

 it was some client, seeking information, 

 and I did not wish to listen. The 

 domestic opened the door, and I heard 



a familiar voice ask, "Is Mr. P 



within ? " My wife was descending the 

 stairs, and I heard her answer: 



"Why, Fred ! How are you ? Glad 

 to see you. You haven't been here for 

 a month. Yes, Tom is in the study. 

 How's the family ? " 



"Why, Nellie, all well, thank you, 

 but excuse me, I must see Tom right 

 off." Before I could collect my 

 thoughts and get to the door to open 

 it, in burst Fred, with: 



"I say, old man, do you know the 

 law is off, to-morrow ? " 



"Why, Fred, what law? What on 

 earth do you mean about laws ? Let 

 up on that. I hear law all day long, 

 each day of the week, and I don't want 

 to hear it at home. " 



' ' Why, you old chump, do you forget 

 that the last Legislature changed the 

 close time for woodcock shooting ? 

 They went back to the old law, which 

 allowed us to shoot the birds during 

 the month of July, with close time 

 after that until November first again." 



Even with this explanation I failed 

 to ascertain the drift of his speech, 

 until he said : 



" Now, to-morrow's the first. You get 

 out your gun, load a few cartridges, 

 and be ready at four to-morrow morn- 

 ing. It's a good hour's ride to Pine 

 Brook, and I wish to be there at five, 

 sure. We must be the first if we wish 

 to get the birds." 



I hummed and hawed, thought of 

 sundrv business matters which de- 



