156 AUGUST 



Jim would imagine that he was using all the neces- 

 sary wiles of dissimulation. 



" No, they don't like dogs. I must leave him at 

 home." 



An hour or so would go by, and our efforts to 

 find Joe would become exasperating ; so in despair 

 I would start to find le petit chien waiting for me a 

 mile away smiling by the roadside. He always 

 smiled when he had got the better of me, but I only 

 once heard him laugh aloud. On that occasion I 

 had taken him to the tennis-club ground, as I often 

 had done before without being reproved by the 

 secretary. But the next day was to witness the 

 beginning of the annual tournament, and the secre- 

 tary thought it his duty to deliver himself of a 

 warning concerning Joe. 



" I'm afraid you mustn't bring Joe to-morrow," 

 he said the dog listening hard the while ; "there's 

 a fine of half a guinea on tournament days." 



Of course I promised that he should not appear, 

 and presently when we came away I called him, 

 and he followed me as far as the gate like the most 

 obedient of dogs. But I saw him no more until the 

 next afternoon, when, on reaching the ground, we 

 were met at the gate by Joe, whose little neck was 

 craned out looking for us. He had hidden all 

 night in the pavilion, and the secretary had not 

 had the heart in the morning to dislodge him. 



He was, generally speaking, an admirably be- 

 haved little dog, but on one occasion he gave vent 

 to a spirit of revenge quite human in its wickedness. 

 He went with us to stay with an aunt, and one 

 morning when we had promised him a walk, she, 



