matter of that, of a man) with a fox? Here 

 is fierceness on a large scale. Dinah, the 

 gentlest and mildest Welsh terrier that ever 

 begged pardon for existing, used to spend 

 hours at a rat-hole. She killed, not for food, 

 but for mere pleasure. Rufus, my spaniel, 

 the exemplar of kindness, had a particular dis- 

 like (it would have been wrong to call it a dis- 

 taste) for hedgehogs. On a summer's night 

 he used to track them on the lawn, and I have 

 known him to bring three of these inoffensive 

 beasts, each as big as his head, one after 

 another into the drawing-room in his bleeding 

 mouth. That he wished to destroy them is 

 certain, but their bristles saved them and they 

 were all restored to the bushes and liberty. 

 On such matters there can be no argument. 

 It is best to admit that our beloved dog and 

 our dear cat both have primal impulses, an- 

 cient necessities of rapine, and wild desires 

 which we can sometimes soften and direct, but 

 can never utterly abolish. It must be enough 

 for us that they have come from their world 



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