284 Reminiscences of 



saying eleven more lambs had been killed during the 

 past night and in the early morning, and that he was xm- 

 able to get a shot at the killing dog, but had distinctly 

 traced it to my house, and that dog, lying now so peace- 

 fully by the fire, was the one. Could it be possible? 

 I examined Penelope, and alas ! on her breast in several 

 places were blood marks scarcely yet dried, as well as 

 woolly shreds, which too plainly indicated her guilt. 

 Penelope again denied the accusation with outstretched 

 paws and reproachful glance, but had afterwards to be 

 relegated to the kennel enclosure. 



Another performance of Penelope had occurred, 

 which certainly exhibited a reasoning power which we 

 had overlooked, from its ingenuity and amusing charac- 

 ter, of slight importance compared with lamb killing. 

 Having the free range of the house, she discovered tliat 

 the dinner table had a bread roll, wrapped about by a 

 napkin, adjoining each dinner plate — a tempting morsel 

 for her — and during the desertion of the dining ;md 

 adjoining sitting room she availed herself of the oppor- 

 tunity of taking one of the rolls — just one each day, 

 and no more. The regular shortage of a roll each day 

 at dinner occasioned remark, to which the butler as- 

 serted that he regularly supplied the full complement. 

 This occurring so repeatedly gave some wonderment 

 at the mysterious disappearance of a single roll each 

 day, as all asserted, each of us, we were not the 

 cause. This brought it up to the butler, who put him- 

 self, concealed, one day before dinner, where he could 

 view the table, and was much surprised to detect 

 Penelope in the act (when she supposed the coast was 

 clear) of deftly removing one of the rolls, which she 

 carried into an adjoining room, and quickly, as she 



