Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/182

162 to see if his mistress were still waiting for him. She stepped back into the house and shut the door, with an elaborate care that he should  notice the fact. Then she applied her eye to one of the glass panes. The dog trotted to the steps, looked about him, and, seeing that the  coast was clear, leisurely came up them and lay  down on the mat.

“Now I have him!” thought Bess exultingly, and, suddenly opening the door, she made a quick snatch at the spot where the dog  had been,—had been, for at the first click of  the latch he was several yards away, barking  defiance at some imaginary foe.

“Oh, dear!” sighed Bess, adjusting the folds of her pretty spring suit. “How could Bridget be so careless as to let that dog out when I  told her not to?” And again she peered out  through the glass, only to see the dog peacefully lying on the lower step, with his little  black nose laid up on the one above it.

“Can’t you get him to come to you with a piece of bread?” queried Fred’s voice from the  next room. “I’ll go ask Bridget for a piece.”

He returned in a moment and offered Bess a