78 The Story of Scr aggies 



after lunch, when I put her down, and 

 soon she was hopping about the room. 

 After feeding herself she came and 

 perched in her usual place on my foot, 

 but I must have forgotten her for a 

 moment. My brain was much occupied 

 with an important chapter of my book, 

 and jumping up hastily I stepped to the 

 book-case to the left of my desk to con- 

 sult some volume, and almost as soon 

 as I did so looked around to see where 

 Scraggles was. I looked towards her 

 sand bath and the food saucers, then to 

 her little tree, but she was not to be 

 seen. Then, as I often did, I tilted 

 back my chair to see if she was at my 

 feet, and to my intense distress I saw 

 her there dead, on the bear skin I used 

 as a rug. 



There are some griefs that seem pue- 



