20 BRUNO 



later, he told me he had slipped away while Mr. 

 and Mrs. Nimrod were petting Bruno, and so 

 had escaped a formal leave-taking. I was glad 

 of this, for I had dreaded their parting. 



In spite of the fact that I was the one to 

 attend to Bruno's wants, that he always came 

 to me when hungry or thirsty, and that I never 

 disciplined him as Julius sometimes did, still 

 he showed in many ways that Julius's place in 

 his heart was far above mine. So I was relieved 

 that there had been no good-byes. 



"We were both entirely engrossed for the next 

 few days by getting moved and settled. In 

 spite of busy hands, I had many times felt a 

 tugging at the heart-strings for the absent 

 Bruno. I said nothing about it, though ; and 

 Julius afterwards confessed that he too had 

 felt longings, but had suppressed them for fear 

 of upsetting me, just as I had concealed my 

 feelings on his account. 



On the afternoon of the fourth day Julius 

 could stand it no longer ; he must have some 

 news of Bruno. So he looked up Mr. Nimrod. 



Before he could ask any questions, Mr. Nim- 

 rod began, 



" What did you feed that dog, anyway ? ' 



"Why, the same things we ate," answered 



