Jeremy

has the reputation of muggy warmth and foggy mists, but here was a year when traditions were fulfilled in the most reckless manner, and all the 1892 babies were treated to a p

d not lie; and for a week it did not come again; then with a whirl it seized the land, and for two days and nights did not loosen its grip. From the nursery windows the children watched it, their noses making little rings on the windo

al result of that was that on the second afternoon tempers were,

t had seemed to him a tremendous event, the Beginning of the End. To the others, who lived in the immediate present, it was a crisis so remote as scarce

ng them in, laughed at their struggles against monotony. The nursery clock struck three and they realised that two whole hours must pass before the next meal. Mary, her nose red from pressing on the win

sitting, dignified and collected, in the

ith a little cough, the better to secu

ool he would at this very moment be playing most happily with his village. It spread out there before him on the nursery floor, the Noah family engaged u

again: "Perhaps Pir

He abandoned the attempte

id, "not to answer when

len quietly, without raising her eyes, w

lmost screamed J

e only eight. Gentlemen must be over

rand and I hate yo

care," sa

uarrel were not worth while on this heavily burdened afternoon, he

t this t

argument, "and it'll be dirtier soon, and the Jampot say

u were," s

felt that her moment had arrived. Sniffing, as was her habit when she wanted

dn't it, perhaps if I

y eight. He looked at her and saw behind th

n," he said, "but it's all be

the window too

e it tickles my ear, b

'Stumps' and 'Rags and Tatters,' and 'Engel th

at. From his position there he had a fine view. Immediately below him was the garden, white and grey under the grey sky, the br

exactly opposite the gate was the road that led to the Orchards, and on the right of that was the Polchester High School for Young Ladies, held in great contempt by Jeremy, the more that Hele

no sound. He sighed once more-"I'd like to eat jam and

wung herself up on

one. I hope you don't mind

of "The Charge of the Light Brigade," the salmon fronts of the doll's house, the green and red of the village on the floor with the flowery trees, the blue tablecloth, the shining brass coal-scuttle all alive and sparkling i

said Mary. Jeremy said nothing,

have '"-sniff, sniff-",' sud-den-ly su

?" asked

, but perhaps we'll see presently, herself up in w-o-o-l wo

" asked Jeremy. "It should be

see. After 'again' there's a stop. 'She c

crossly. "It would be better

'Was she in a shop? And was that really-was it really a ship

?" aske

shi

ld it sit on a c

ep. How silly I am

I never can understand nothing." And it w

speculative, listening with one ear to Mary, with the other to the stir of

ching dusk, swept the horizon, the snowy roofs, the streets, and Jeremy felt some contact with the strange air, the mysteriou

; he had been, it was evident, badly beaten by the storm. Intended by nature to be a rough and hairy dog, he now appeared before God and men a shivering battered creature, dripping and wind-tossed, bedraggled and bewildered. And yet, even in that first distant glimpse, Jeremy discerned a fine independence. He was a short

shments from the Jampot, and the uninvited consolations of Mary or Helen upon such occasions had been resented

ir, knitting, and every now and then leaving off to look a

her arm and

a minute-look at th

e gate; it sniffed at the bars, sniffed at the wall beyond, then

ck and, sauntering down the road again as though it had nothing all day to do but to wande

ary and Jere

n she's going to see someone and isn'

ze itself between the bottom bar of the gate and the ground. The interval was

boredom of the afternoon, it may have been that he felt pity for the bedraggled aspect of the animal-most proba

e garden, sniffing and smelling exactly as though the whole place belonged to him, and a ridi

, flinging a cautious glance at He

ion. "You're not going out," she whispered. "

spered Jeremy back

that it was the most wicked thing that he could do-to go out into the snow without a coat and in his slippers. He might even, according to Aunt Amy, die of it, but as death at present meant

ust the hour when she liked to drink her cup of tea in the kitchen; he knew from deep and constant study every movement of her day. Fortune favoured him. He reached without trouble the little dark corkscrew servants' staircas

rapped up and warm, and now the snowy world seemed to leap up at him and drag him down as though into an icy well. Mysterious shadows hovered over th

world so dim and uncertain in front of him, that for a moment his he

heart beating like a drum, his teeth chattering, and a terrible temptation to sneeze hovering around him. Let him reach the nursery and establish the animal there and all might be well, but let them be discovered, cold and shivering, in the passage, and out the dog would be flung. He knew so exactly what would happen. He could hear the voices in the kitchen. He knew that they were sitting warm there by the fi

in spite of the little trail of snow and water that he left in his track. The nursery door was reached, pu

I

os. He must have been a strange-looking animal at any time, being built quite square like a toy dog, with a great deal of hair, very short legs, and a thick stubborn neck; his eyes were brown, and now could be seen very clearly because the hair that usually covered them was plastered about his face by the snow. In his normal day his eyes gleamed behind his hair like sunlight in a th

r a long time no one said a word. Th

y an attack from the Outside World must be delivered, and without a word spoken or a look exchanged they were agreed to defend both themselves and the dog

as here; they

tly sweet," sudd

, raised his eyes, and regarded her with a loo

ou know you always hate it when Aunt

e see?" a

id Jeremy; "but she'

to do?" asked Mary

heart a little failed him as he saw the pool of the water slowly sp

Jeremy; "if we could get him dry before

kitchen fire and an abundant series of chronicles of human failings and misfortunes. The hymn ceased abruptly. She stayed there wh

im the leg that had been stiff like a ramrod and

e been be'aving this last fortnight, and what's come over you is more nor I nor anyone else can tell, which I was saying only yesterday to your mother that it's more than one body and pair of hands is up to the managing of now you've got so wild and wicked; and wherever from did you get the dirty animal dropp

ing in front of the dog, his short thick legs spread

t. I don't care. He shan't go out again

in all her long nursing experience

on being that thirty years ago the arts and accomplishments of d

The moment your mother comes I give her notice. To think that all thes

act of a play by M. Sardou, and revealed the smiling faces of Mrs. Cole, Miss Amy Tr

often did, to see the "dear children." Mrs. Cole, liking to show her children to visitors, eve

ust before their te

ounds-and also abounded thirty years ago-in curates of the most splendid and manly type. But, unfortunately, Mr. Jellybrand was not one of these. I, myself, remember him very well, and can see him now flinging his thin, b

ch voice." The others who did not like him called him "

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ceberg. But then I must confess that I am pr

once said to her, "Little girls must play as well as work, you know." He always talked down to us as though we were b

catching sight of the black-coated figure, forgot instantly his toilet, rose dripping from his rug, and advanced growling, his lips back, his ears out, his tail erect, towards the door. Then everything happened together. Mr. Jellybrand, who had been afraid of dogs ever since, as an infant, he had been mistaken for a bone by a large retriever, stepped back upon Aunt Amy, who uttered a s

llybrand's tempting gleaming black trousers, he stopped, crouched like a tiger, and with teeth still bared continued his kettle-like reverberations. Aunt Amy, who hated dogs, loved Mr. Jellyb

sers and glanced at Aunt Amy; from that moment may be dated a fe

uld be too much to say that it exchanged a wink with Jeremy, but something certainly passed between them. Back again on the Turkey rug he became master of the situation. He did the only thing possible: he disregarded entirely the general

ut there they occasionally were. Now on what slender circumstances do the fates of dogs and mortals hang. Only that afternoon Mr. Jellybrand, in the innocent self-confidence of his heart, had agreed with Miss Maple, an elderly and bitter spinster, that the next sewing meeting of the Dor

ave settled this without consulting her. He had taken it for granted that she would agree. He had said: "I agreed with Miss Maple that it wou

rousers. Then Mr. Jellybrand had been obviously afraid. He fancied, perhaps, that she too had been afraid. He fa

eason to be afraid, Mr. Jellybra

dog smile

e said. "He must have n

ugh them, of endless generations both of dogs and men as yet unborn. Miss Maple, sitting in her little yellow-curtained parlour drinking, in jaundice

ent of Mrs. Cole's, affa

ren. Father will arrange something in the morn

y quickly, "and he was shivering like an

mpot said: "I really think, Mum-," and Mr. Jellybrand, in his rich

Miss Maple she sm

d really we can't turn him out into the snow at once. It would be too crue

sulks-moods well known to the Cole family, and lasting from a day to a week, according to the gravity of the offence. Yes, they had already begun. There she sat in her chair by the fire, sewing, sewing, her fat, roly-poly face carved into a parody of deep displeasure. Life would be very unpleasant now. N

which meant Mary and Helen, he must see what a little diplomacy would do. Kneeling

have died in the snow, would you, Nurse?... It mi

r Mary and Helen drawing in thei

have a dog one day when we we

l no

you cried when it had its ear bitten off by a nasty big dog, and how your mother said she wouldn't have it fighting round the house,

one moment, stared at them all, bit off a piece

it goes,

go? Really go?... They could hear their hear

t felt this; a flood of colour rose into her face. Her mouth opened. But what she would have said is uncertain, for at that very moment the drama was further developed by the sl

nt," he said; "I he

good manners demande

he creature

n little stiff prickles, hedgehog fashion, giving him a truly original appearance. His beard afforded him the air of an ambassador, and his gra

lance half of terror, half of deligh

the most hideous mongrel it's ever been my lot to set eyes on

ncle Samuel, was uncert

on the rug. He'll be all right soon. He wanted to bite Mr. Jell

delightful," agreed Uncle

e yet. Wouldn't you thin

The dog, with grave and scornf

eman, "if you name him by his character I sho

mlet?" ask

was a prince who Was unhappy becau

tably. "I've never heard of a dog

king one of his usual sudden departures.

anis

thoughtfully. "I wonder

, was caught by the Ja

ve it nor endure it not a minute longer. They can 'ave my notice this moment, and I won't

on them all-then she was gone

ed at on

nce. Once Mary whispered:

nly was

the tea-things. For a little she was silent. Then the

d the Missis has taken it. She's going at the en

hat to say. There was Tragedy, there was Victory, there was Remorse, there was Triumph. He was sorry, he was g

oked at hi

y, "it's awfully nice

account of Hamlet's entrance