thought of ; and in I went. I remember the
delight of that bath even to this day, the
glow, the freshness, the luxurious softness of
each particular wave, just as the last view
which his eyes rested on is painted on the
memory of one who has been stricken blind,
or the last heard melody is treasured in that
of a man stunned deaf by a fall ; it was my
last perfect pleasure, and succeeded by a
shock that I shall never, I think, quite get
over. When I had bathed as long as I
judged to be prudent, I landed and advanced
towards the spot where my garments and
Towser lay ; as I did so, every individual
hair upon his back seemed to bristle with
fury, his eyes kindled coals of fire ; he gave
me notice by a low determined growl that he
would spring on me and tear me into
fragments if I approached nearer ; it was evident
that he did not recognise me, in the least,
without my clothes. 'Tow, Tow, Tow, Tow,
Tow,' said I pleasantly, 'good old Tow, you
remember me;' but the brute, like the
friend whom we have known in a better day,
and appeal to when in indifferent apparel,
only shook his head in a menacing manner
and showed his teeth the more. 'Towser,
be quiet, sir ; how dare you — Tow, Tow,
Tow——Towser—(here he nearly had a bit
of my calf off) — you nasty, brutal dog ; go
away, sir, — go ; ain't you ashamed of yourself?"
Drops of foam oozed through the
teeth of the ferocious monster as he stood up
with tail erect at these reproving words, but
he manifested no sign of remorse or sorrow.
My situation became serious in the extreme ;
what if he chose to sit there, on my personal
apparel, until——? At this idea, too terrible
to be concluded, a profuse perspiration broke
out all over me. Presently, feeling a little cold,
I went back into the lake again to consider
what was to be done, and resolving the fell
design of enticing Towser into the water and
there drowning him. Abuse and flattery being
equally thrown away upon him, I tried
stones ; I heaved at him with all my force
the largest pebbles I could select, the majority
of which he evaded by leaping from side
to side, and those which struck him rendered
him so furious that I believe he would have
killed and eat me if he could, whether I was
dressed or not, but he would not venture
into the water after me still. At last, the time
drawing on apace for the appointed interview
which I had once looked forward to
with such delight and expectation, I was fain,
in an agony of shame and rage, to hide myself
in a dry ditch in the neighbouring copse,
where I could see what took place without
being seen, and there I covered myself over,
like a babe in the wood, with leaves.
Presently my Lucy came down, a trifle more
carefully dressed than usual and looking all
grace and modesty ; the dog began to howl
as she drew near ; she saw him and she saw
my clothes, and the notion that I was
drowned (I could see it in her expressive
countenance) flashed upon her at once ; for
one instant she looked as though about to
faint, and the next she sped off again to the
hotel with the speed of a deer. Gracious
Heavens ! I decided upon rescuing a portion,
of my garments at least, or upon perishing in
the attempt, and rushed out of the thicket
for the purpose : but my courage failed me as
I neared the savage animal and I found myself
(in some confused and palpitating
manner) back in my dry ditch again with the
sensation of a loss of blood and pain: my
retreat had not been effected — perhaps, because
there was nothing to cover it — without
considerable loss, and the beast had bitten
me severely. I protest that, from that
moment, frightful as my position was, it did not
move me so much as the reflection of the
honors that would be showered down on
that vile creature. I knew that he would be
considered by Lucy and the rest as a sort of
dog of Montargis, an affectionate and
sagacious creature, watching patiently at his
appointed post for the beloved master that
should never again return to him. Presently
they all came back, Lucy and her mother and
all the maid-servants from the inn, besides
my fellow-students and fishermen with dragnets,
and a medical man with blankets and
brandy (how I envied the blankets and the
brandy!) As I expected, neither the women's
cries nor the men's labour in vain distressed me
half so much as the patting and caressing of
Towser ; if she could have only known when
she dropped those tears upon his cruel nose that
there was a considerable quantity of human
flesh — my flesh — at that moment lying in his
stomach in an undigested state ! I could not
repress a groan of horror and indignation :
"Hush, hush," said Lucy, and there was a
silence, through which I could distinctly hear
Towser licking his chops. I was desperate
by this time, and holloaed out to my friend
Sanford — 'Sanford and nobody else' — to
come into the copse with a blanket. I
remember nothing more distinctly.
Immediately peals of laughter, now smothered,
now breaking irrepressibly forth ; expressions
of thankfulness, of affection, of sympathy
beginning — but never finished — burst in upon,
as it were, by floods of merriment ; and the
barking, the eternal barking, of that execrable
dog. I left Killarney that same evening ;
Lucy, and the mother of Lucy, and my
fellow-students, and the abominable Towser ;
I left them for good and all ; and that was
how my engagement was broken off, and why
there is no Mrs. Peony Flush," concluded the
curate, who had turned from rose-colour to
deep carnation, and from that to almost
black, during the recital.

I felt for my poor friend deeply, as many
others did to whom I told this under the
seal of secrecy, and who revealed it to their
families. In place of the religious book-
markers, with Bibles and crosses and crowns
worked on them, which used to be rained