Stealing. 233 
came into the sitting-room, deposited it at the feet of his 
mistress, and crawled off, the most dejected and remorse- 
stricken dog it was possible to imagine.” 
Who among us cannot remember a period in our own child- 
hood when our moral sense was less highly developed than 
that of humble Jock Elliott ? Who cannot call to mind occa- 
sions when, with fingers in the sugar basin or jam pot, we 
ate of the forbidden fruit stealthily, undeterred by any self- 
reproaches that ought to have stirred within us? 
How is it that a dog, when well treated, so seldom steals 
food, even when it is constantly within his reach? The cat 
seldom or never refrains, and will bide its time with all the 
patience of the savage for a raid upon the table or the cage 
of the pet canary. One of my retrievers once committed an 
act of petty larceny, of which, I trust, he sincerely repented. 
Hector and Carlo used to wait in the breakfast-room while I 
finished dressing. One morning I came down and found them 
both, as usual, expecting me. The landlady came in to set the 
table,.and, on looking into a low cupboard, the door of which 
was open, exclaimed, “Why, good gracious! the dogs have had 
the beef: here’s the empty dish. The meat was there ten 
minutes ago, when I poked the fire, and nearly a whole 2lb. 
tin of that beautiful Australian corned beef that I turned out 
for your breakfast yesterday has gone.” Which was the culprit P 
There was nothing in the manner of either to arouse sus- 
picion. I made them both sit down in front of the cupboard, 
held the empty dish before them, and lectured them seriously 
on their wickedness. Just a slight tremor in Hector’s massive 
frame, and an inclination to avert his eyes from the cupboard, 
then became “confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ”; 
while Carlo wagged his tail, and looked innocently from the 
dish to my face. I sat down by the fire, took up the news- 
paper, and waited for the frying of a couple of eggs in place 
of the lost beef. In a few minutes Hector stole out of the 
room unnoticed, and from the passage came that unearthly 
sound which accompanies the regurgitation of food from a 
