COMMUTER'S WIFE 103 



day's work. Oh, the joy of the telling, when every 

 commonest detail means so muchl 



Really, I must be careful what I say, or rather 

 sing, in the presence of these dogs; for a moment 

 ago I gave vent to my feelings of joy in a bit of 

 a song that was between a cheer and a yodel, and 

 those two hounds first raised their heads and bayed 

 as if it was night, and the full moon shining in 

 their kennel, then dashed about the attic at full 

 cry. Next Lark took it up. Bluff tried to copy 

 until he choked, and Pat yelped. 



Delia the waitress immediately appeared with a 

 white, scared face, out of breath from running up- 

 stairs, saying that in the old country such keening 

 always meant death. 



Hardly had she disappeared when Martha Corkle 

 the decorous, knocked, begged pardon, but the 

 sound of the hounds had given her such a turn 

 she'd nearly dropped the soup kettle, and it made 

 her feel more settled and at home than anything 

 since she came. From that moment Bugle and 

 Tally-ho never lacked food, but, on the other hand, 

 any dog mischief that was done in Delia's precinct 

 was laid to their charge. 



