“Then he asked if I thought that if he’d promise to send you the money would the gentleman let him go without payin’ for the tire, and he wanted to know what your name was; and when I told him you hadn’t no husband, and what your name was, he asked me to say it over again, and then he made me say it once more—­the whole of it; and while I was tellin’ him that I’d write it down for him if he wanted to send you the money, he give a big jump and he stuck his head out like a bull.  He looked so queer that I was gettin’ skeered; and then he says, almost whisperin’:  ’I go!  I go away!  I leave my bear!  If she sell him, that pay everything!  I come back no more—­never! never!’

“I saw he was goin’ to scoot, and I made a grab at him, but he give me a push that nearly tore my collar off, and away he went.  You never see anybody run like he run.  He was out of sight in no time.”

“And he left his bear!” she exclaimed, in horror.  “What on earth am I to do with a bear?” She looked at me, and in spite of her annoyance and perplexity she could not help joining me when I laughed outright.

CHAPTER VIII

ORSO

Mrs. Chester and I hurried back to the yard.  There was the bear, sitting calmly on his haunches, but there was no Italian.

“Now that his master is gone,” my hostess exclaimed, “I am afraid of him!  I will not go any farther!  Can you imagine anything that can be done with that beast?”

I had no immediate answer to give, and I was still very much amused at the absurdity of the situation.  Had any one ever before paid his bill in such fashion?  At this moment the stable-man approached us from one of the outbuildings.  “This is my hostler,” she said.  “Perhaps he can suggest something.”

“This is a bad go, ma’am,” said he.  “The horse was out in the pasture all night, but this morning when I went to bring him up I couldn’t make him come near the stable.  He smells that bear!  It seems to drive him crazy!”

“It’s awful!” she said.  “What are we going to do, John?  Do you think the animal will become dangerous when he misses his master?”

“Oh, there’s nothin’ dangerous about him,” answered John.  “I was sittin’ talkin’ to that Dago last night after supper, and he says his bear’s tamer than a cat.  He is so mild-tempered that he wouldn’t hurt nobody.  The Dago says he sleeps close up to him of cold nights to keep himself warm.  There ain’t no trouble about his bein’ dangerous, but you can’t bring the horse into the stable while he’s about.  If anybody was to drive into this yard without knowin’ they’d be a circus, I can tell you!  Horses can’t stand bears.”

She looked at me in dismay.  “Couldn’t he be shot and buried?” she asked.

I had my doubts on that point.  A tame bear is a valuable animal, and I could not advise her to dispose of the property of another person in that summary way.