Page:Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Ingram, 5th ed.).djvu/80

61 with —and her master, having upon every occasion offered ten pounds reward, it seems likely enough that she will be stolen four times more."

The dog-stealers were also the bane of Miss Barrett. Writing to Horne in October of this year, she says:—

In the letter containing the foregoing account of Flushie's return home from his unlawful detention, his fond mistress had placed a very neat and characteristic pen-and-ink portrait of little Flush, humorously made to resemble herself. This sketch was jocularly sent in lieu of her own portrait, which Horne had solicited for insertion in his forthcoming work, A New Spirit of the Age, and was introduced by these words: "Here I send you one of the 'Spirits of the Age,' strongly recommending it to a place on your frontispiece. It is Flush's portrait, I need scarcely say; and only fails of being an excellent substitute for mine through being more worthy than I can be counted." Later on, she writes: "Mr. Kenyon was with me yesterday, and praised Orion most