“If the dog often howls as he did just now, Vernon won’t have much
peace. I never in my life heard a more distressing noise, eh?”
“It was very distressing,” I assented.
Lord Elyn did not sit down, but went to and fro in the room like one
disturbed.
“A most distressing noise!” he repeated, uncomfortably. “Most
distressing. It really almost sounded like a human being in agony,
didn’t it?”
“Yes, it did.”
“What sort of dog is it?” he asked presently, standing before me. “Do
you know?”
“A black spaniel.”
“A spaniel? They’re the most sensitive breed of dog I know, intensely
nervous and easily frightened, but very affectionate. They attach
themselves in an extraordinary manner to those who are kind to them.”
“Hulloa!” he exclaimed. The door had reopened, and Vernon came in.
“Well,” he said, “it’s all right. I’ve got the dog for twelve pounds.”
“Where is it?” said Lord Elyn.
“Downstairs in my study. I’ve had to tie him up for the moment. Poor
fellow, he’s nervous at getting into a strange house.”
“Let’s have a look at him,” said Lord Elyn.
I saw that Vernon hesitated, and thought he was going to refuse the
request, natural though it was. But if he had intended to do so, he
quickly changed his mind.
“Certainly,” he said. “Come downstairs. My study is in the part of the
house that once belonged to Deeming.”
Lord Elyn went out of the room, I followed, and Vernon came last.
“To the right!” he said, when we reached the bottom of the staircase.
“This corridor unites the two houses.”
We followed the direction indicated.
“Here’s the study,” said Vernon. “It’s a real workroom, dedicated to
the cause of our dumb friends.”
“The animals?” said Lord Elyn. “It seems to me, after this evening,
that dumb is scarcely the appropriate adjective to apply to them.”
Vernon laughed. He had his hand on the door of his study, and was still
laughing as he opened it.