A STUDY OF CHARACTER. 209 



If we went to him and exhibited our interest in 

 his condition, he always purred in recognition of 

 our sympathy. And when I spoke his name, he 

 looked up with an expression that said, "I un- 

 derstand it, old fellow, but it 's no use." He was 

 to all who came to visit him a model of calmness 

 and patience in affliction. 



I was absent from home at the last, but heard 

 by daily postal-card of his failing condition ; and 

 never again saw him alive. One sunny morning, 

 he rose from his rug, went into the conservatory 

 (he was very thin then), walked around it delib- 

 erately, looking at all the plants he knew, and 

 then went to the bay-window in the dining-room, 

 and stood a long time looking out upon the little 

 field, now brown and sere, and toward the gar- 

 den, where perhaps the happiest hours of his life 

 had been spent. It was a last look. He turned 

 and walked away, laid himself down upon the 

 bright spot in the rug, and quietly died. 



