BILLY AND HANS 



always showed a little pique, and 

 even if buried in his curtain nest or 

 in the fold of my rug, and asleep, he 

 would scold if she approached within 

 several yards of him ; but to me he 

 behaved as if he had consciously 

 taken Billy's place. I sent to Turin 

 to get him a companion, and the 

 merchant sent me one guaranteed 

 young and a female ; but I found it 

 a male, which died of old age within 

 a few weeks of his arrival. Hans had 

 hardly become familiarised with him 

 when he died. The night before his 

 death I came home late in the evening, 

 and having occasion to go into my 

 study, I was surprised, when I opened 

 the door, to find Hans on the thresh- 

 old, nodding to me to be taken, with 

 no attempt to escape. I took him up, 

 wondering what had disturbed him at 

 an hour when he was never accus- 

 38 



