45 



After the cur had gotten all he could from the 

 bucket, he went away. But he came back before 

 many days, and then again and still again. He be- 

 gan to seem to feel at home in the yard, sometimes 

 curling up in a corner of it and going to sleep there. 



It was so quiet and pleasant. No one threatened 

 him or drove him away. When any of the family 

 came into the yard, he would look up at them 

 appealingly and beat the ground with his tail. 



After a while he made friends with the kitchen cat. 

 Often they would eat together from the plate of 

 scraps that the cook set out for them. This pleased 

 the cook so much that sometimes, when the nights 

 were cold, she allowed the cur to come in and sleep 

 before the fire. 



He had been very abject while all the world 

 was against him, but now that he had something of 

 a home he began to pluck up a little spirit. 

 Once he even barked at a tramp who came to the 

 door, though immediately afterward he dropped his 

 tail and looked ashamed, seeming to feel he had 

 gone too far. 



One evening when the library door was open 

 the cur's head appeared peeping around the jamb 

 at the assembled family. Then he crept farther in. 



