Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/195

Rh at that. He was devoted to his master and his master alone. He tolerated other males, but made no advances toward them, and he simply ignored females. Rebecca, when she first came to live with her grandfather, had felt a little afraid of the big dog. She shrank instinctively from him if he passed near her. She had never had a pet in the studio and her only acquaintance with animals had been through the bars of the zoo. Life on the farm had thrown her in contact with many kinds of live creatures and gradually all fear of them left her. She was learning to drive the horses and milk the cows. A setting goose had no terrors for her and she faced with equanimity the huge, strutting white turkey gobbler, even when he made the most pompous noises and advanced towards her scraping his wings on the ground.

Little by little Rebecca made friends with all the creatures, all but Doctor. He seemed to have taken his cue from his master and passed her by with scornful disdain. The proud spirit that kept the girl from forcing her presence on the man deterred her from even so much as putting her hand on the dog's silky head, although she longed to do it. He was a beautiful dog, with long silver-white fur, spotted in glossy black. What a delightful thing it would be to