“I say you cannot keep that dog here. What are you going to do about it—Ladybird?”
Ladybird smiled at her aunt in a bewitching way.
“I don’t know, aunty,” she said. “Where could I keep him?”
“You can’t keep him at all, Lavinia. You know both your Aunt Dorinda and I detest dogs, and so you must either sell him or give him away.”
Ladybird gazed at her aunt with great, serious eyes.
“I won’t sell him,” she said slowly; “but I will give him away.”
“That’s a good girl,” said her aunt, approvingly. “And will you do it to-day?”
“Yes; right away,” said Ladybird, rising, with Cloppy still cuddled in her arms.
“Ah!” said Miss Priscilla, uncertain how to account for such docility. “And to whom will you give him?”
“To you,” cried Ladybird, and depositing the moppy mass in her aunt’s lap, she ran laughing from the room.