of mine. If I do so with discretion I shall, 

 I hope, escape the censure of Duke, the Great 

 Dane, and Soo-ti, the Pekinese, those strangely 

 assorted associates and friends who are now 

 couched, each in his separate dignity, before 

 my fire. 



*% Of Chang, the Cuban-Maltese, I have 

 already spoken. That amiable alien had, 

 however, been preceded in our home and our 

 affections by Neptune, a Newfoundland of 

 the true type, who was imported into this 

 country from his place of origin in very early 

 life. One of his younger brothers afterwards 

 followed him and was given to Charles Dick- 

 ens. Nep for some time, as I grieve to re- 

 member, lived in a stable-yard, attached to a 

 kennel by a chain. At any rate these were his 

 headquarters, and it became the custom for 

 the boy members of the family to visit him 

 there ceremonially. We were small boys and 

 the kennel was large. It was easy to creep 

 into it and pass some happy moments in inti- 

 mate conversation with our black and shaggy 

 17 <% friend, 



