“Because——­” said Florence.  “Well, it’s necessary.”

“Why?”

“Because you know as well as I do what’s bound to happen to him!”

“What is?”

“Grandpa’ll chase him off,” said Florence.  “He’ll take after him the minute he lays eyes on him, and scare him to death—­and then he’ll get lost, and he won’t be anybody’s dog!  I should think you’d just as lief he’d be my dog as have him chased all over town till a street car hits him or somep’n.”

But Julia shook her head.  “That hasn’t happened yet.”

“It did happen with every other one you ever had,” Florence urged plaintively.  “He chased ’em every last one off the place, and they never came back.  You know perfectly well, Aunt Julia, grandpa’s just bound to hate this dog, and you know just exactly how he’ll act about him.”

“No, I don’t,” said Julia.  “Not just exactly.”

“Well, anyway, you know he’ll behave awful.”

“It’s probable,” the aunt admitted.

“He always does,” Florence continued.  “He behaves awful about everything I ever heard about.  He——­”

“I’ll go pretty far with you, Florence,” Julia interposed, “but we’d better leave him a loophole.  You know he’s a constant attendant at church and contributes liberally to many good causes.”

“Oh, you know what I mean!  I mean he always acts horrable about anything pleasant.  Of course I know he’s a good man, and everything; I just mean the way he behaves is perfeckly disgusting.  So what’s the use your not givin’ me this dog?  You won’t have him yourself as soon as grandpa comes home to lunch in an hour or so.”

“Oh, yes, I will!”

“Grandpa hasn’t already seen him, has he?”

“No.”

“Then what makes you say——­”

“He isn’t coming home to lunch.  He won’t be home till five o’clock this afternoon.”

“Well, then, about six you won’t have any dog, and poor little
Gammire’ll get run over by an automobile some time this very evening!”
Florence’s voice became anguished in the stress of her appeal.  “Aunt
Julia, won’t you give me this dog?”

Julia shook her head.

“Won’t you, please?”

“No, dear.”

“Aunt Julia, if it was Noble Dill gave you this dog——­”

“Florence!” her aunt exclaimed.  “What in the world makes you imagine such absurd things?  Poor Mr. Dill!”

“Well, if it was, I think you ought to give Gammire to me because I like Noble Dill, and I——­”

But here her aunt laughed again and looked at her with some curiosity.  “You still do?” she asked.  “What for?”

“Well,” said Florence, swallowing, “he may be rather smallish for a man, but he’s very uncouth and distingrished-looking, and I think he doesn’t get to enjoy himself much.  Grandpa talks about him so torrably and—­and——­” Here, such was the unexpected depth of her feeling that she choked, whereupon her aunt, overcome with laughter, but nevertheless somewhat touched, sprang up and threw two pretty arms about her charmingly.