and gentle, with a small, compact, finely-shaped 

 head, and a pair of wonderful eyes — as full of fire 

 and of softness as Grisi's ; indeed she had to my 

 eye a curious look of that wonderful genius — at 

 once wild and fond. It was a fine sight to see 

 her on the prowl across Bowden Moor, now 

 cantering with her nose down, now gathered up on 

 the top of a dyke, and with erect ears, looking 

 across the wild like a moss-trooper out on business, 

 keen and fell. She could do everything it became 

 a dog to do, from killing an otter or a pole-cat, to 

 watching and playing with a baby, and was as 

 docile to her master as she was surly to all else. 

 She was not quarrelsome, but " being in " she 

 would have pleased Polonius as much, as in being 

 " ware of entrance." She was never beaten, and 

 she killed on the spot several of the country bullies 

 who came out upon her when following her master 

 in his rounds. She generally sent them off howl- 

 ing with one snap, but if this was not enough, she 

 made an end of it. 



But it was as a mother that she shone ; and to 

 see the gipsy, Hagar-like creature nursing her 

 occasional Ishmael — playing with him, and fondling 

 him all over, teaching his teeth to war, and with 

 her eye and the curl of her lip daring any one 

 but her master to touch him, was like seeing Grisi 

 watching her darling " Cennaro" who so little 

 knew why and how much she loved him. 



172 



