Jan saw that Elizabeth’s eyes were full of tears and he slipped softly to her and pushed his nose into her hand.  She glanced down and tried to smile at him, but her lips trembled and she hurried to her room.  Mrs. Pixley followed her, and when Jan found them, Elizabeth was crying in her mother’s arms, while Mrs. Pixley, whose own face was wet with tears, tried to comfort her.  After awhile they began talking in low tones, and Jan edged between their closely-drawn chairs, wishing very hard that he could understand what it all meant.  He would have been as much worried as they were, had he known that Mr. Pixley’s life could only be saved by the famous surgeon from England, and that even if the operation were successful it would mean that Elizabeth and her parents would have to be away from home many months.  But Jan was only a dog, so their words meant nothing to him.

After that hour everything was in confusion.  Servants hurried about, trunks were dragged into Elizabeth’s room, and clothes were carried from closets and packed into the empty trunks.  Every once in a while Jan would look down into a trunk, then watch Elizabeth with his puzzled eyes.

She saw his worried look and paused in her packing to pet him, then suddenly she turned to her mother and said, “Oh, mother!  What about Jan?”

“It will be impossible to take him with us, for we will have to stay in a hotel, and that would be hard on Jan, and an additional care for us, dear.  Then, we may have to go to London as soon as your father is able to travel after the operation.  Dr. Corey could not stay in New York so long.”

“I suppose the servants will be kind to Jan,” went on Jan’s mistress, “but I would feel better if old John and Mary were still here.  They loved Jan and he loved them.”

“These new servants seem to be all right,” replied Mrs. Pixley.  “They know how fond we are of Jan, and I will ask them to be kind to him.”

“He’s such a dear old fellow, and never makes any trouble, and I don’t believe any one could help loving him!” exclaimed Elizabeth, catching the dog’s long, silky ears and pulling them gently while his eyes, shining with devotion, looked into her own.

Before noon the next day the trunks had been strapped and taken away.  Then Jan saw Mr. Pixley lifted into the automobile where Mrs. Pixley was arranging pillows.  Elizabeth came slowly down the steps of the porch with Jan at her side.  Then she stooped and took his head between her hands and gazed intently at him.

“Good-bye, Jan!  I’ll come back again!”

That was what she always said when she was going away for a short time; so Jan wagged his tail and touched her pink cheek with the tip of his tongue.  He watched the automobile turn among the orange trees that bordered the winding driveway and waited for a last glimpse of it through the trees.  He knew that Elizabeth would turn and call to him when she reached that point.