“Watts,” said Katie sharply, “stop a moment, please.  I want to get something.”

Ann was sitting very straight, looking with great absorption up the river when Katie got back in the carriage with her dog.  Her face was pale, and, it seemed to Katie, hard.  She moved as far away from the dog as she could—­her mouth set.

He sat just where Katie put him on the floor, trembling, and looking up at her with those asking eyes.

When they were almost home Ann spoke.  “You can’t take in all the homeless dogs of the world, Katie.”

“I don’t know that that’s any reason for not taking in this one,” replied Katie shortly.

“I hate to have you make yourself feel badly,” Ann said tremulously.

“Why shouldn’t I let myself feel badly?” demanded Katie roughly.  “In a world of homeless dogs, why shouldn’t I feel badly?”

They made a great deal of fun of Katie’s dog.  They named him “Pet.”  Captain Prescott wanted to know if she meant to exhibit him at a bench show and mention various points he was sure would excite attention.

“What I hate, Katie,” said Wayne, “is the way he cringes.  None of that cringing about Queen.”

“And why not?” she demanded hotly.  “Because Queen was never kicked.  Because Queen was never chased down alleys by boys with rocks and tin cans.  Because Queen never asked for a pat and got a cuff.  Nor did Queen’s mother.  Queen hasn’t a drop of kicked blood in her.  This sorry little dog comes from a long line of the kicked and the cuffed.  And then you blame him for cringing.  I’m ashamed of you, Wayne!”

He was about to make laughing retort, but Katie’s cheeks were so red, her eyes so bright, that he refrained and turned to Ann with:  “Katie was always great for taking in all kinds of superfluous things.”

“Yes,” said Ann, “I know.”

“And she always takes her outcasts so very seriously.”

“Yes,” agreed Ann.

“The trouble is, she can’t hope to make them over.”

“No,” admitted Ann, “she can’t do that.”

“And then she breaks her heart over their forlorn condition.”

“Yes,” said Ann.

“These wretched things exist in the world, but Katie only makes her own life wretched in trying to do anything about them.  She can’t reach far enough to count, so why make herself unhappy?”

“Katie doesn’t look at it that way,” replied Ann, and turned away.

After the others had gone Katie committed her new dog to Worth.  “Honey, will you play with him sometimes?  I know he’s not as nice to play with as the puppies, but maybe that’s because nobody ever did play with him.  The things that aren’t nice about him aren’t his fault, Worthie, so we mustn’t be hard on him for them, must we?  The reason he’s so queer acting is just because he never had anybody to love him.”

Worth was so impressed that he not only accepted the dog himself but volunteered to say a good word for him to Watts.