“But boys are so mean!—­and I catch stammering from his school friend—­’Tut-tut-tut-tut-Tom,’ as we call him—­but I soon leave it off when he goes.

“I did not learn stooping and poking out my chin from any one; it came of itself.  It is so hard to sit up; but Mother says that much my worst trick

“Is biting my finger nails; and I’ve bitten them nearly all down to the quick.

“She says if I don’t lose these tricks, and leave off learning fresh ones, I shall never grow up like our pretty great-great-grandmamma.

“Do you know her, dear Toby?  I don’t think you do.  I don’t think you ever look at pictures, intelligent as you are!

“It’s the big portrait, by Romney, of a beautiful lady, sitting beautifully up, with her beautiful hands lying in her lap.

“Looking over her shoulder, out of lovely eyes, with a sweet smile on her lips, in the old brocade Mother keeps in the chest, and a pretty lace cap.

“I should very much like to be like her when I grow up to that age; Mother says she was twenty-six.

“And of course I know she would not have looked so nice in her picture if she’d squinted, and wrinkled her forehead, and had one shoulder out, and her tongue in her cheek, and a round back, and her chin poked, and her fingers all swollen with biting;—­but, oh, Toby, you clever Pug! how am I to get rid of my tricks?

“That is, if I must give them up; but it seems so hard to get into disgrace

“For doing what comes natural to one, with one’s own eyes, and legs, and fingers, and face.”

TOBY.

“Remove your arms from my neck, Little Missis—­I feel unusually apoplectic—­and let me take two or three turns on the rug,

“Whilst I turn the matter over in my mind, for never was there so puzzled a Pug!

“I am, as your respected Father truly observes, a most talented creature.

“And as to fit subjects for family portraits and personal appearance—­from the top of my massive brow to the tip of my curly tail, I believe myself to be perfect in every feature.

“And when my ears are just joined over my forehead like a black velvet cap, I’m reckoned the living likeness of a late eminent divine and once popular preacher.

[Illustration]

“Did your great-great-grandmamma ever take a prize at a show?  But let that pass—­the real question is this: 

“How is it that what I am most highly commended for, should in your case be taken amiss?

“Why am I reckoned the best and cleverest of dogs?  Because I’ve picked up tricks so quickly ever since I was a pup.

“And if I couldn’t wrinkle my forehead and poke out my chin, and grimace at the judges, do you suppose I should ever have been—­Class Pug.  First Prize—­Champion and Gold Cup?

“We have one thing in common—­I do not find it easy to sit up.