“Yes; but listen a moment.  The dolphin, after having received his pittance, presented his back to the boy, after having tacked in all his spines and prickles as well as he could, and carried him right across the lake, thus saving the little fellow a long roundabout walk; and not only that, but after school hours it was waiting to carry him back again.  This continued almost daily for a year or two; but at last the boy died, and the dolphin, after waiting day after day for his reappearance, pined away, and was found dead at the usual place of rendezvous.  The affectionate creature was taken out of the lake, and buried beside its friend.[D]

“And, on the other hand,” added Jack, “if animals sometimes attach themselves to us, we attach ourselves to them.  We are told that Crassus wore mourning for a dead ferret, the death of which grieved him as much as if it had been his own daughter.[E] Augustus crucified one of his slaves, who had roasted and eaten a quail, that had fought and conquered in the circus.[F] Antonia, daughter-in-law of Tiberius, fastened ear-rings to some lampreys that she was passionately fond of."[G]

“That, at all events, was attachment in one sense of the word,” said Mrs. Wolston.

“Without reference to the dog in particular,” continued Jack, “proofs of sagacity in animals are very numerous.  The nautilus, when he wants to take an airing, capsizes his shell, and converts it into a gondola; then he hoists a thin membrane that serves for a sail; two of his arms are resolved into oars, and his tail performs the functions of a rudder.  There are insects ingenious enough to make dwellings for themselves in the body of a leaf as thin as paper.  At the approach of a storm some spiders take in a reef or two of their webs, so as to be less at the mercy of the wind.  Beavers will erect walls, and construct houses more skilfully than our ablest architects.  Chimpanzees have been known spontaneously to sit themselves down, and perform the operation of shaving.”

“Stop, Jack,” cried Mrs. Wolston; “I must yield to such a deluge of argument, and admit that Toby may have acquired the art of embroidery with or without a master, only I should like to see some other specimen of his skill.”

“Probably you will by-and-by,” replied Jack, laughing, “if you keep your eyes open.”

Here Sophia came into the room leading her gazelle.

“Ah, just in time,” said Mrs. Wolston; “here is another animal that probably has something to say.”

“Wrong, mamma,” replied Sophia; “my gazelle is as mute as a mermaid.  Very provoking, is it not, when all the other animals in the house talk?”

“You had better apply to Master Jack; he may, probably, be able to hit upon a plan to make your gazelle communicative.”

“Will you, Master Jack?”

“Certainly, Miss Sophia.  The plan I would suggest is very simple.  Feed him for a week or two with nouns, adjectives, and verbs.”