Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/298

Rh frieze jacket, he led him back to the castle.

Father Johann was hurrying out with an anxious face as the boys entered.

"It is all over!" said Conrad, laughing. "Dolf is best archer and best horseman. Now we shall see in what else he excels. Come up-stairs to my playroom, Dolf! You may play with all my playthings."

He led the way up a flight of winding stairs, into a turret room. Two pretty silky-haired dogs ran barking to him, and making friends with them, Dolf forgot to be shy of the tutor.

Conrad expected the little cowherd to express great surprise at the beautiful things he showed him, one by one,—things his father had brought from far-away lands, but Dolf cared for nothing so much as the dogs; and presently he was down on the floor, playing with them and teaching them tricks.