THE MATING OF BROWNIE 199 
He felt sure they had gone looking for mates. A 
mate! That was what he wanted. It is written 
that it is not good for man to dwell alone. The 
same, no doubt, is true of otters. Poor Brownie 
had tasted the cup of wedded happiness, and 
therefore his loneliness was doubly acute. He 
climbed one morning out of the lake at the outlet, 
slunk overland around the wire screen, took to the 
stream again, and swam rapidly downward to- 
ward the pond in the woods. He remembered 
that his dead mate had had a sister. If she were 
wedded now, no doubt there would be a daughter. 
Perhaps this daughter would look like her aunt. 
So lonely widowers have reflected since time was! 
