to a shock that, in spite of the hot, dry weather, Robert looked as if he had been in the rain for hours.  He wore the bright yellow collar I had bought him shortly before his disappearance, so that had there been any doubt as to his identity that would have removed it instantly.  On my calling to him, he turned quickly round and, with a slight gesture of the head as if bidding me to follow, he glided forward.  My natural impulse was to run after him, pick him up and smother him with kisses; but try as hard as I could, I could not diminish the distance between us, although he never appeared to alter his pace.  I was quite out of breath by the time we reached H——­ Street, where, to my surprise, he stopped at No. 90 and, turning round again, gazed at me in the most beseeching manner.  I can’t describe that look; suffice it to say that no human eyes could have been more expressive, but of what beyond the most profound love and sorrow I cannot, I dare not, attempt to state.  I have pondered upon it through the whole of a mid-summer night, but not even the severest of my mental efforts have enabled me to solve it to my satisfaction.  Could I but do that, I feel I should have fathomed the greatest of all mysteries—­the mystery of life and death.

“I do not know for how long we stood there looking at one another, it may have been minutes or hours, or, again, but a few paltry seconds.  He took the initiative from me, for, as I leaped forward to raise him in my arms, he glided through the stone steps into the area.

“Convinced now that what I beheld was Robert’s apparition, I determined to see the strange affair through to the bitter end, and entering the gate, I also went down into the area.  The phantom had come to an abrupt halt by the side of a low wooden box, and as I foolishly made an abortive attempt to reach it with my hand, it vanished instantaneously.  I searched the area thoroughly, and was assured that there was no outlet, save by the steps I had just descended, and no hole, nor nook, nor cranny where anything the size of Robert could be completely hidden from sight.  What did it all mean?  Ah!  I knew Robert had always had a weakness for exploring areas, especially in H——­ Street, and in the box where his wraith disappeared I espied a piece of raw meat!

“Now there are ways in which a piece of raw meat may lie without arousing suspicion, but the position of this morsel strangely suggested that it had been placed there carefully, and for assuredly no other purpose than to entice stray animals.  Resolving to interrogate the owner of the house on the subject, I rapped at the front door, but was informed by the manservant, obviously a German, that his master never saw anyone without an appointment.  I then did a very unwise thing—­I explained the purpose of my visit to this man, who not only denied any knowledge of my dog, but declared the meat must have been thrown into the area by some passer-by.

“‘No one in dis house trow away gut meat like dat,’ he explained, ’we eat all we can git here, we have nutting for de animals.  Please go away at once, or de master will be very angry.  He stand no nonsense from anyone.’